Police block AAP’s march to PM house
response to safety concerns flagged by the IAS Association at a press conference on Sunday. Denying that they were on strike, the IAS officers said there was an atmosphere of “fear” and “mistrust” in the bureaucracy in the national capital.
“Whatever gathering or meeting it is, we don’t feel safe, (hence) we don’t attend. However, we are attending all statutory meetings. The misinformation, which is being spread, that we are on strike is completely false and baseless. We are all at work, conducting all public inspections, attending meetings. Everybody is working to their utmost sincerity, vigour and dedication,” the association’ s secretary Manisha Saxena said.
Saxena is divisional commissioner of Delhi and holds several charges in various departments. The IAS officers are likely to meet on Monday to discuss the next course of action.
The officers said the bureaucrats were completely “apolitical” and “neutral” and worked according to the law and the Constitution, adding that it was unfortunate that they were being used to score political points.
Kejriwal urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to step in and end the IAS officers’ strike and “let the elected government work”.
The protest march also saw the presence of Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury who said that “federalism was being undermined”. The Shiv Sena and the NCP extended support to the AAP on the ongoing stand-off.
Earlier in the day, Mamata Banerjee, N Chandrababu Naidu, HD Kumaraswamy and P Vijayan, the chief ministers of West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala, respectively, met Prime Minister Modi at a NITI Aayog meeting and requested him to resolve the stalemate.
Banerjee later said in a tweet that she and the other three CMs “requested Hon’ble PM today to resolve the problems of Delhi government immediately”.
Earlier in the morning, Kejriwal tweeted questioning how Baijal was attending the meeting in his place. “Under which provision of the Constitution does L-G have powers to replace the Chief Minister? I have not authorised him to go in my place,” Kejriwal tweeted.
The claim was, however, refuted by NITI CEO Amitabh Kant saying that Baijal was not present at the meeting.
CHIEF MINISTERS OF WEST BENGAL, AP, KARNATAKA, KERALA MET PM AT NITI AAYOG MEET, REQUESTED HIM TO RESOLVE STALEMATE