Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, whose sit-in protest at Lieutenant General Anil Baijal’s office has entered seventh day, has now garnered support from former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah and DMK leader MK Stalin too.
On Saturday, the AAP government had witnessed massive support from four non-NDA chief ministers Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), Pinarayi Vijayan (Kerala), HD Kumaraswamy (Karnataka) and N Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh) – who accused the Central government of “restricting the federal system”, terming it a threat to the nation.
On Sunday, Omar Abdullah took to Twitter and wrote that a chief minister elected by the people of Delhi with an overwhelming majority was protesting, but “powers that be couldn’t seem to care less”.
“Forget the arguments & counterarguments, a CM elected by the people of Delhi with an overwhelming majority is protesting in the Lt. Governor’s residence for the last 6 days & the powers that be couldn’t seem to care less. Democracy anyone?” he tweeted.
Forget the arguments & counterarguments, a CM elected by the people of Delhi with an overwhelming majority is protesting in the Lt. Governor’s residence for the last 6 days & the powers that be couldn’t seem to care less. Democracy anyone?
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) June 17, 2018
Stalin also took to Twitter to extend his support to the Kejriwal’s protest as he tweeted, “I am concerned with the disdain shown by Lt. Gov. of Delhi towards an elected Chief Minister like @ArvindKejriwal. The BJP is proactively destroying the federal structure of this nation. I express my solidarity with the Chief Ministers who are standing up for States’ rights.”
I am concerned with the disdain shown by Lt. Gov. of Delhi towards an elected Chief Minister like @ArvindKejriwal. The BJP is proactively destroying the federal structure of this nation. I express my solidarity with the Chief Ministers who are standing up for States’ rights.
— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) June 16, 2018
The four chief ministers, who arrived in Delhi on Saturday to attend the Niti Aayog meeting which is scheduled to take place on Sunday, were denied permission to meet Kejriwal and L-G Anil Baijal even after having waited for long on Saturday.
“This is a constitutional crisis. But there should never be such crisis due to which a government and the common people have to suffer,” said Banerjee at a joint press conference with Vijayan, Kumaraswamy and Naidu.
Also Read | Mamata, Naidu, Vijayan, Kumaraswamy in Delhi to support Kejriwal
“We will tell the Prime Minister to intervene in this matter and solve it. Had the President been here, we would have told him too. This is a democracy and that is not how a democracy functions.
“They (the Centre and the Lt Gov) are not allowing the government to function. They (the Kejriwal regime) say they are not able to work. What they will do. Their work has been obstructed and restricted,” she added.
To show solidarity with Kejriwal’s protest demanding IAS officers to end their non-cooperation with his government, the four Chief Ministers visited Kejriwal’s residence, where they met his wife and other members of his family.