Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has put off his decision to go on indefinite hunger strike that he had planned if the sealing of commercial establishments did not stop by Saturday, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said in a statement on Friday.
Mr. Kejriwal had announced that he would go on indefinite hunger strike to protest against the ongoing sealing of commercial units if the drive did not stop by March 31. The sealing, which started in December 2017, is happening on orders of the Supreme Court-appointed Monitoring Committee.
This week, the Delhi government appointed two senior lawyers to represent it in the case, which will be heard on April 2 by the Supreme Court, the AAP said.
‘Would annoy the court’
“CM has been appealed by several trader associations and also advised by some lawyers that when the matter is in the court and the court is going to hear it on day to day basis, CM’s fast could annoy the court, which could adversely impact outcome. They urged CM to postpone his decision [sic],” the AAP statement read.
The statement further said Mr. Kejriwal had decided to “closely monitor the situation” and postpone his decision for the moment.
‘Political stunt’
Reacting to the Chief Minister’s decision, Confederation of All India Traders’ (CAIT) national secretary-general Praveen Khandelwal said, it was a “betrayal” of traders.
“This corroborates our contention that it was a political stunt by Mr. Kejriwal to garner sympathy from traders. The CAIT has demanded that Mr. Kejriwal resign,” he said.
