Anna Hazare has declared that he will sit on a protest fast for the second time if an effective Lokpal Bill is not passed by August 15. The government, through the Congress party's rant for all seasons Digvijaya Singh, has indicated that Anna Hazare will receive pretty much the same treatment as Baba Ramdev if he carries out his threat. Despite the government's nine-round stalling mechanism called the joint drafting committee, it is clear that the war is pretty much on.

Through this period, the government has changed tack from passive stalling to active browbeating and even literal beating in the case of Baba Ramdev's supporters. It has slammed the twin protests against corruption as a conspiracy of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. And it has sought to assert the sole authority of the elected representatives to frame laws.

At the same time, however, the version of the Lokpal Bill drafted by the Anna Hazare-led civil society group has also come into sharper focus. While the government has made it transparent that it is least interested, and more than a little alarmed, in combating corruption, the civil society's draft of the proposed legislation has also been questioned by at least some right-thinking people as somewhat unrealistic.

Now that the focus is as much on the draft legislation as the general anger against corruption in high places, the question arises whether Anna Hazare will find as much support for his fast the second time round.