Kejriwal, Delhi Ministers stay put at Raj Niwas in sit-in protest

Want Lieutenant-Governor to intervene to end the four-month-long ‘strike’ by bureaucrats.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Ministers Gopal Rai and Satyendar Jain after having spent the night at the Raj Niwas waiting room, Delhi, June 12, 2018

Having slept on the couch at Raj Niwas on Monday night, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and three members of his Cabinet were headed for a second night in the visitors’ room at Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal’s residence as they continued their sit-in on Tuesday.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has been at Raj Niwas overnight, reiterates his demands - that the L-G end the officers' agitation and approve the doorstep delivery of ration. Video via AAP @the_hindu@DelhiConnectpic.twitter.com/1h2tMUe4yf

— Damini Nath (@DaminiNath) June 12, 2018

 

The Chief Minister is demanding that the L-G intervene to end a “four-month-long strike” by bureaucrats in the wake of the alleged attack on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash by AAP MLAs in February.

Scene outside the Delhi Lt. Governor’s residence Raj Niwas, where Delhi CM and others are sitting since yesterday, Delhi, June 12, 2018

 

Mr. Kejriwal, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Ministers Gopal Rai and Satyendar Jain had gone to Raj Niwas to attend a meeting at 5.30 p.m. on Monday. After the meeting, they had refused to leave until the L-G met their demands: end the officers’ agitation, take action against those who struck work and clear the government’s proposal for doorstep delivery of ration. On Tuesday, Mr. Jain said he had started an indefinite hunger strike.

 

“Our 2nd nite at LG House. We r here becoz We luv Del n we care for Del We hv worked v hard for Del We want Del to further improve We feel shattered becoz many great initiatives getting stuck Lets improve our beloved Del, LG Sir. N lets do it togethr,” Mr. Kejriwal said in a tweet on Tuesday night.

‘Reach out to bureaucrats’

Though the Raj Niwas did not respond on Tuesday, it had said in a statement on Monday that the officers were not on strike and that the L-G had asked the Chief Minister to reach out to the bureaucrats.

.@LtGovDelhi Sir. Read this. U r defending IAS strike by saying that they r working and r not on strike. What work r they doing sir? How can u defend their conduct? https://t.co/Zm5HppGCRq

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) June 12, 2018

After the Chief Secretary was allegedly attacked by AAP MLAs at the Chief Minister’s residence during a late-night meeting on February 19, officers in the Delhi government had stopped attending meetings, other than Cabinet and some vital ones, as a mark of protest, restricting themselves to written communications with the political executive. They demanded an apology from the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister.

In a statement on Tuesday, the IAS AGMUT Association said: “All officers, including IAS officers, in the Delhi government are working with full vigour and dedication... There is no question of any officer in Delhi government being on strike.”