I’m stubborn but not coward: Kejri on CS assault
NEW DELHI : Breaking his silence for the first time over the alleged assault on the chief secretary, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said he can be “stubborn but not violent”.
The Chief Minister termed the allegations a “lie”, which was propagated as part of a “conspiracy against his government”.
Delhi Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash had alleged that some AAP MLAS assaulted him at a midnight meeting on February 19 at the Chief Minister’s residence. The allegations had triggered a stand-off between the government and the state bureaucracy. AAP MLAS Amantullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal have been arrested for the alleged assault.
Speaking to a group of government employees at his residence on Wednesday, Kejriwal said: “I consider you (employees) a part of my family and we (the government) cannot function without you. Kejriwal can be stubborn but not violent. Only cowards resort to violence and I am not one. We will never commit violence (against anyone).”
The employees, under the banner of Joint Council of All Employees’ Organisations Delhi, demanded a dialogue to resolve the tussle between the bureaucracy and the political executive.
Since the alleged assault on the CS, government officials had been boycotting meetings with the ministers and communicating only in “writing” and observing five-minute silence in every department during lunch time until the CM apologised for the incident.
The delegation was led by Delhi’s social welfare minister Rajendra Pal Gautam, who was recently appointed as “peacemaker” by the government to initiate a dialogue between the two sides.
The chief minister added that lot of conspiracies had been hatched against the AAP government in last three years.
“Why would I beat our own people (employees or officers)? A lie was propagated as part of a conspiracy. The pain is that you (employees) also stood against me. You were all my own people and at least you should have asked us about the incident. I have only one request from you all, if anything happens in future please come to me (to know reality),” Kejriwal said.
CS MOVES HIGH COURT
Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash on Wednesday approached the Delhi High Court, challenging a fresh notice issued by a Delhi Assembly committee asking him to appear before it on Thursday.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar listed the matter for hearing on Thursday before a single judge, reported PTI.
The matter was mentioned before the court by advocate Vivek Chib, who said that they have got a stay from the single judge in the chief secretary’s main petition in which he has challenged the notice issued by the Assembly’s Privileges Committee.
The counsel said that despite giving an undertaking before the court on March 5 that the committee will not proceed in the matter concerning the chief secretary, he has been served with a fresh notice.
The committee had on March 5 assured the HC that it would not take any coercive action against the chief secretary.