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New Delhi. India's most famous yoga guru pressured the government on Friday to accept his hardline proposals to combat corruption as he prepared to go on a hunger strike at the weekend.

Swami Ramdev, who has erected a huge tent in the capital where he plans to fast in front of thousands of followers from Saturday, has vowed to stop eating unless Prime Minister Manmohan Singh accedes to all of his demands.

Singh sent four ministers to greet the television star when he arrived in the capital on Wednesday and he has personally written to the man known to millions as "Baba" in an effort to avert another challenge to his authority.

The standoff is front--page news, with The Indian Express headlining, "To prevent the fast, government works hard on Baba menu", adding that ministers were preparing a last--ditch response to Ramdev's "bewildering" demands.

Ramdev, appearing on stage on Friday in his trademark saffron robes open at the chest, said there was a consensus emerging with the government on most points but they remained at odds over "one or two."

"All castes, all types of people are taking part together in this movement," he shouted to applause from the crowd, some of whom demonstrated yoga poses in the carpeted tent set up in a park.

Anger about corruption has been at fever pitch in India for the last year after a series of scandals involving the government and the ruling Congress party, notably a $39--billion telecom scam that saw a minister arrested.

Ramdev, a bearded nationalist and strict social conservative, has tapped this groundswell of discontent to launch his campaign but he also has strong support from right--wing Hindu groups and his large organization behind him.

His main request is that Singh's administration forcibly repatriate so--called "black money", cash in foreign bank accounts suspected of being used for bribes or other illegal transactions.

"After all this money is brought back, no one will be hungry, uneducated, unemployed," he said on Friday.

His other proposals to combat graft include introducing the death penalty for corrupt officials and withdrawing large--denomination 500--rupee ($10) and 1,000--rupee bank notes, which he says are used for illicit transactions.

He has also called for any bank that operates in a tax haven to be banned from India.

"This is an exciting moment in India's history, when the soul of its people, long suffering from corruption, is finding vibrant utterance," The Times of India said in an editorial.

"Yet, as the chanting grows impassioned, notes of caution must also be sounded."

Commentators and some inside the ruling Congress party have questioned the government's dealings with Ramdev, criticizing Singh's willingness to appease an eccentric figure with views outside the political mainstream.

Ramdev is anti--gay, against modern medicine and claims to be able to cure cancer and AIDS through yoga and his natural therapies, which are a key source of his vast income.

Others say Ramdev and another famous social activist, 73--year--old Anna Hazare, who fasted for 98 hours in April demanding a tough anti--corruption law, are holding India's democracy to ransom with no mandate from the people.

"If the wizened war veteran Anna Hazare carried some credibility despite some bizarre pronouncements, the antics of yoga--guru--turned--putative--politician and social activist Baba Ramdev beggar the imagination," wrote Vivek Dehejia, an economics professor, in the Indian Express on Thursday.

Ramdev, known to millions of middle class Indians through his yoga channel that promotes healthy living and breathing exercises, was expected Friday to hold more talks with the government but is adamant he will not compromise.

His trust, based in the northern Indian hilltown of Haridwar in the foothills of the Himalayas, has declared total revenues since 1995 of 11 billion rupees ($245 million).

AFP