Will seek SC stay on sealing drive: Govt

BJP leaders file FIR citing ‘misbehaviour’ at CM’s house

NEWDELHI: The Delhi government will approach the Supreme Court this week to get a temporary stay on the ongoing sealing drive in the city, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Tuesday.

Kejriwal made the announcement after a meeting with BJP leaders at his residence ended in acrimony, with Opposition leaders filing a complaint against AAP MLAs for allegedly attacking them at the meeting.

“Last evening, I discussed the issue with lawyers. We have decided that in a day or two, Delhi government will move the SC to get a temporary stay on the sealing drive,” the CM said after the meeting with BJP leaders.

Delhi BJP general secretary Ravinder Gupta filed a police complaint at Civil Lines station — following which Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta and another BJP leader were taken to Aruna Asaf Ali Hospital by the police.

Delhi Police spokesperson Dependra Pathak said that a case has been registered on the BJP’s complaint. The case has been registered under sections 323 (assault) and 341 (wrongful restraint) of the IPC.

The sealing drive that started in December 22 last year, has become a political hot potato ahead of a possible bypolls in 20 Assembly constituencies. While the BJP is set to meet the Lieutenant Governor and Union urban development minister Hardeep Puri, Kejriwal spent Tuesday afternoon meeting traders in different markets. He visited traders at Karol Bagh, Defence Colony, Hauz Khas, Model Town and Chandni Chowk. “Someone told me that through the sealing drive, BJP wants to ruin Delhi’s retail market and pave way for FDI in retail. Hope this is not true,” he told the traders.

Before the CM visited the markets, BJP leaders staged a walkout from a meeting at his house. All BJP MPs from Delhi, except Harsh Vardhan and Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Goel, along with three MLAs, including Vijender Gupta, had gone for the meeting. The three mayors of the corporations were also present.

However, the discussion failed with BJP leaders alleging that AAP leaders misbehaved with them. “Kejriwal brought in 150 party workers at his residence. They did not allow discussion to take place. They were continuously interrupting and misbehaving,” said South Delhi MP Ramesh Bidhuri.

In videos shared by AAP leaders on social media, Kejriwal was seen requesting the BJP leaders to wait and listen. Another video shared by BJP supporters showed AAP MLAs hooting as Vijender Gupta was speaking.

“We had an appointment with the CM. But after we reached AAP MLAs Jitender Tomar, Sanjeev Jha, Jarnail Singh, Akhilesh Tripathi and others started heckling and abusing us,” Gupta said in his police complaint.

Responding to the allegations, Kejriwal said the BJP leaders were “lying”. “I made a sincere request to our BJP friends to sit down, discuss and together find a solution to the sealing drive. However, they just walked out.”

The CM added that Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari raised the issue of notifying 351 roads and unauthorised colonies and that the points were unrelated to the sealing. “The sealing is not happening in any of these 351 roads that BJP leaders are talking about,” he said.

KEJRIWAL’S MEETING WITH BJP LEADERS AT HIS RESIDENCE ENDED IN ACRIMONY, WITH BJP FILING A COMPLAINT AGAINST AAP MLAS FOR ATTACKING THEM