DE FACTO PRESIDENT’S RULE IN DELHI DUE TO IAS STRIKE: CM
Protest by Kejriwal, Delhi Cabinet ministers at LG’S office enters sixth day
NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday alleged that there is ‘de facto’ President’s rule in the Capital, because of what the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government has described an ongoing ‘strike’ IAS officers’ strike.
Kejriwal made the allegation as his sit-in protest, along with three of his Cabinet colleagues, at the waiting room of Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal’s residence-cum-office entered its sixth day.
Kejriwal, accompanied by his deputy Manish Sisodia and ministers Satyendar Jain and Gopal Rai, have stayed put at the LG office, demanding that Baijal direct the IAS officers to end their “strike” and approve doorstep ration delivery scheme.
In response to a tweet about IAS officers withdrawing from work being de facto President’s rule, Kejriwal on Saturday tweeted, “I agree. It is de facto President’s rule in Delhi thro IAS strike (sic).”
Jain and Sisodia have been sitting on hunger strike at the waiting room of the LG Secretariat since Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.
On Friday, the Chief Minister also wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking him to direct officers of the Delhi administration to return to work and cooperate with the Delhi ministers.
In his letter, Kejriwal urged the Prime Minister to bring the strike by the IAS officers to an end, so that he (Kejriwal) can attend a meeting of NITI Aayog on Sunday.
However, the IAS officers’ association has maintained that no officer is on “strike”.
Moreover, Sisodia on Friday had released a video warning that if he and the other protesting ministers are forc- ibly removed from the LG Secretariat, they will stop drinking water too.
Sources said the LG, who has been working from his residence after the sit-in by AAP ministers, has constituted three teams of doctors to examine the health of ministers.
Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court on Friday agreed to hear on June 18 a plea seeking direction to the LG to ensure that the alleged informal strike by IAS officers of Delhi is called off and they perform their duties as public servants.
The petition comes in the backdrop of another plea filed on Thursday in the court seeking that the sit-in by Kejriwal and his cabinet colleagues at the LG office against the “strike” by the IAS officers be declared unconstitutional and illegal. This plea against Kejriwal’s sit-in was also listed for hearing for June 18.