For over six hours and counting, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and three Cabinet Ministers staged a sit-in at Raj Niwas, saying they would not leave till Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal intervened to end the ongoing agitation of officers and approved the Aam Aadmi Party government’s proposal for doorstep delivery of ration.
Mr. Kejriwal, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Public Works Department and Health Minister Satyendar Jain and Labour Minister Gopal Rai attended a meeting with Mr. Baijal at 5.30 p.m. to press for their demands. At 6 p.m., Mr. Kejriwal said in a tweet that they had asked the L-G to end the “strike” of IAS officers, punish those officers who struck work and approve the delivery of ration.
The officers have restricted themselves to written communication with the political executive since the alleged February 19 assault on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash by AAP MLAs at the Chief Minister’s residence. While the AAP dispensation has said that the officers are on strike, the L-G and officers have denied it.
ADVERTISEMENT
Tweeting the copy of the letter signed by him and the Ministers, Mr. Kejriwal said: “Handed him this letter. LG refuses to take action. LG is under constitutional duty to act. Left wid no option, we have politely told LG that we will not leave till he acts on all points. We hv come out of his chamber n sitting in his waiting room [sic]”.
As of midnight, government sources said the Chief Minister and Ministers remained at the waiting room at Raj Niwas.
ADVERTISEMENT
‘Dharna without reason’
Meanwhile, Raj Niwas termed the move “another protest in the sequence of a ‘dharna without reason’”, referring to a similar sit-in by AAP MLAs over the Mohalla Clinics proposal on August 30 last year.
In a statement, Raj Niwas alleged that Mr. Baijal was “threatened” by the Chief Minister during the meeting. Mr. Kejriwal and the Ministers demanded that the officers be “immediately summoned” at Raj Niwas and directions be given to them to end the “so-called strike”.
“In response, it was reiterated by the L-G that there is no strike by employees... and in his continued interactions with officers, it has been informed that the atmosphere of mistrust and fear continues and no sincere attempts to resolve the differences have been made so far,” Raj Niwas said.
Mr. Baijal, who later left Raj Niwas in view of pre-scheduled meetings, according to the statement, advised the Chief Minister to “build the confidence of the employees at all levels” and “work out ways of addressing their genuine concerns”.
In the meantime, the AAP leaders, including Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, and workers gathered outside Raj Niwas. The Delhi police barricaded the road and diverted the traffic outside Raj Niwas. A senior police officer said the police would not allow any AAP workers to enter Raj Niwas.
“We have deployed reserve police force to control any situation. No more AAP workers will be allowed to reach Raj Niwas to join protest,” said the officer.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Kejriwal said at the press conference that the allegations of the assault on the Chief Secretary were absolute lies and there was no need for him to apologise, which is what the officers have been demanding.