Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took to Twitter to inform the people of the reason behind the decision of his ministers to stage a sit-in at the office of Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal since Monday evening.
In a video posted from the official Twitter handle of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Kejriwal is seen stressing on the reasons behind the sit-in.
Reiterating why his government is protesting in this manner, Kejriwal said that it is because of the L-G’s alleged dilly dallying over the IAS officers’ ongoing strike.
“The IAS officers are on a partial strike. They do not attend meetings. They do not respond to the calls and messages of the ministers. They only handle files that are very important,” alleged Kejriwal adding that a lot of Delhi’s programmes and works, such as Mohalla clinic, whitewashing of schools, etc, are getting hampered due to this.
“We wrote and met L-G to request him to end the strike. On 23 February, the entire cabinet met the L-G, he asked for a week’s time but did nothing,” Kejriwal accused the Baijal.
He said that the L-G kept on delaying the matter for around a month in spite of the government informing him that the “protest was illegal”.
Kejriwal claimed that the officers on strike told his ministers that they were being “orchestrated by the L-G’s office” to continue the protests.
“हम लोग कल शाम 5.30 बजे से LG हाउस में बैठे है,
हमारी मुख्य माँगे हैं-
👉🏻 बाबुओं की हड़ताल को तुरंत खत्म किया जाए
👉🏻 राशन वाली फ़ाइल को क्लियर किया जाए
👉🏻 मोहल्ला क्लीनिक, सरकारी स्कूलों में पुताई व अन्य रुके हुए काम हैं, उन्हें जल्दी शुरू करवाया जाए”- @ArvindKejriwal pic.twitter.com/aLtIyUBjDe— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) June 12, 2018
He added that the L-G should take up the matter of doorstep delivery of rations with the Centre.
“How can this be the right thing to do? Asking the Centre means the file goes into locker for 5 years,” said Kejriwal.
“We are sitting here for you, the people of Delhi, for schools, colleges, mohalla clinics and water,” asserted the AAP supremo.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his cabinet colleagues spent night at the Lt Governor’s office as they remained there since the last evening for their demands including a direction to IAS officers to end their “strike” and action against officers who have struck work for “four months”.
Kejriwal along with his deputy Manish Sisodia and two other ministers – Gopal Rai and Satyendar Jain – met Baijal at 5.30 pm on Monday and since then, they have stayed put at the L-G office.
It is the first time in the history of Delhi that the chief minister and his cabinet colleagues spent night at L-G office to press for their demands.
The government says that officers have been on “partial strike” since the alleged assault on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash on the intervening night of 19-20 February. But the officers’ association claimed that no officer is on strike and no work has been affected.
The L-G office slammed Kejriwal’s sit-in, saying it is another protest in the sequence of “dharna without reason”.
A statement, issued by Baijal’s office last evening, stated that the L-G was “threatened” to summon officers and issue directions to them to end their “strike” immediately.