Congress says it played no role in Ramdev calling off fast

Congress today came out with a guarded response to yoga guru Ramdev's decision to call off his fast against corruption, saying it is "good news" but the party had played no role in the decision.

"It is good news that Ramdev has broken his fast," Congress general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi said responding to the development.

Another party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi, however, reacted cautiously to the development saying the decision to fast and call it off was Ramdev's and "Congress has nothing to do with it...But it is good for his health. He should have listened to medical advice earlier."

Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari held that fasts have now become part of the problem than becoming a solution.

"The sacred instrument of protest should not be converted into an agent of destabilisation. Fasts have become a part of the problem rather than a part of solution," Tewari said.

He claimed that as India enters the third decade of liberalisation, "certain legacy issues need to be addressed in the spirit of constructive cooperation rather than becoming handy tools for unwarranted establishment bashing."

Ramdev was observing a fast for the past nine days to protest against corruption and black money issues.

After failure of talks with government, Congress had launched an attack on Ramdev and described him as a "mask" of the RSS.