Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said that if the ongoing sealing drive in the national capital was not be resolved by the end of this month, he would sit on a hunger strike to pressurise the Central Government.

Kejriwal was speaking at Amar Colony market in south Delhi where he met shop owners protesting against civic body’s sealing drive.

“If sealing problem is not solved before 31 March then I will sit on hunger strike. We will all put pressure on the Centre,” Kejrwal told traders.

“I met many traders and spoke to them about the issue. A change is necessary in the master plan. Many laws need to be changed. The proposed amendments made by the DDA were rejected by the Supreme Court.

The ordinance is the only possible solution to the sealing drive,” he added.
Kejriwal said on Saturday he will write a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urge him to take cognizance of the ongoing sealing of commercial establishments in the city.

The Chief Minister said he will also meet Union Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Suri next week to discuss the issue.

Accompanied by the AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh, Kejriwal said his party would raise the issue in the current Parliament session.

“The Centre can easily bring an ordinance in the ongoing Parliament session if it wants to. All our MPs will seek support from other political parties and raise this issue on the floor of the House,” he said.

The Chief Minister said the AAP government will also pass a resolution in Delhi Assembly’s budget session starting from 16 March to urge the Centre to bring an ordinance to stop the ongoing sealing drive of shops and other business establishments in the Capital.

Earlier, addressing a press conference, Delhi chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj charged the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of playing politics over the issue.

Bharadwaj said in the name of sealing, traders were continuously being fooled and a hefty sum of money was being charged from them by the BJP led municipal corporations.

“When sealing first took place in Defence Colony only we had said that it was a conspiracy to collect money from businessmen,” he said, adding that BJP leaders like Vijay Goel, Manoj Tiwari and Hardeep Singh Suri had all tricked traders to score some brownie points.