Kejri not invited to address rally: Govt employees

KARNAL:The members of the Pension Bahali Sangharsh Samiti said they would not allow Aam Aadmi Party chief and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal to address their Pension Adhikar Rally in Karnal on October 7.

The announcement was made a day after AAP’s Haryana state president Naveen Jaihind said that Kejriwal will extend support to protesting government employees in Karnal and address their rally to restore the old pension policy of government employees. “We did not invite Kejriwal and we will not allow him to address the rally,” said Vijender Dhariwal, state president of the samiti.

He said that Jaihind made the statement without talking to any member of the samiti and even declared Kejriwal as the main speaker of the rally. “We demand all leaders of all political parties, including AAP, to restore the old pension system in the state,” he said, adding that the employees would boycott the political parties if they do not fulfil their demand.

The retirement pension policy was abolished by the Union government in 2004 and the Haryana government abolished it in 2006.

On the other hand, in a press statement, Jaihind alleged that this was BJP’s conspiracy as it was worried about the increasing popularity of Kejriwal in Haryana. “The BJP government is threatening the organisers of the rally following which, they made this announcement under government pressure,” he said.