Dharna politics at play, Delhi admin hits pause
NEWDELHI: Delhi’s administration has come to a grinding halt in the midst of a standoff between the government and the bureaucracy, and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is playing out at the lieutenant-governor’s office, the state secretariat and on the streets of the national Capital.
While chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday continued his three-day-old sit-in protest at L-G Anil Baijal’s office, AAP leaders staged a march from the CM’s residence to the L-G’s office for which they collected supporters from Delhi’’s 70 assembly constituencies.
The BJP staged a counter-protest by laying siege to Kejriwal’s office at the secretariat, demanding that the CM and four Cabinet ministers end his “dharna politics”. At the same time, bureaucrats continued with their own three-month-long protest, in which they are slowing down work and avoiding meetings with ministers after chief secretary Anshu Prakash was allegedly assualted at Kejriwal’s residence in February.
In the middle of the dharnas and protests, which have left no time for administration, residents from several areas reported facing hardships, including up to eight-hour-long power outages in Uttam Nagar, Jungpura and Dwarka, and water shortage in outer Delhi over a dispute with Haryana. Officials in the CM office said the cabinet meeting scheduled for Tuesday had not taken place. It was first moved to Wednesday and has now been postponed indefinitely. An official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Cabinet meetings hadn’t taken place for two weeks over some issue or the other.
The L-G met Union home secretary Rajiv Gauba to discuss the political situation. Delhi has seven ministers. Four of them -Kejriwal, deputy CM Manish Sisodia, PWD minister Satyendar Jain and development minister Gopal Rai -- have been camped at Raj Niwas since Monday. The other two, transport minister Kailash Gehlot and social welfare minister Rajendra Pal Gautam, have also been spotted walking in and out of the waiting area at the L-G’s office. Kejriwal justified the dharna on Wednesday by saying that the move was aimed at resolving the bureaucracy versus Delhi government impasse, which he said, was orchestrated by the L-G at the behest of the Centre.
“Aren’t IAS officers merely tools being used by (Narendra) Modi government to scuttle the good work done by Del govt (sic)? Is it possible for IAS officers to return to work without green signal from PMO?” Kejriwal tweeted.
Following the footsteps of home minister Satyendar Jain, who said on Tuesday that he was on an indefinite hunger strike until the L-G agreed to the government’s demands, Sisodia also announced he would go on a fast until Baijal declared the “strike” by bureaucrats illegal and took action against them. Their other demand is that the L-G clears the doorstep delivery of rations.
Baijal’ and his office declined to comment. AAP leaders led a major protest march, which, according to the police was joined by about 1,500 supporters, and according to them more than 3,000. It was joined by former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha. “If former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee were there, he would have directed the home minister to find a solution to the crisis, but the present dispensation is sleeping,” Sinha said to the protesting crowd.