Delhi govt ‘rests’ on sofa
Kejriwal's sit-in: AAP blames Centre, BJP calls it 'drama company’
As the sit-in protest by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his three Cabinet colleagues at the Lt. Governor's office here entered its second day on Tuesday, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the opposition BJP traded charges.
While AAP leaders accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Central government of disrupting the work of the Delhi government, the BJP alleged that the AAP was spreading canards to hide the failures of its government, reports IANS.
Addressing the media here, AAP leader and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh said the IAS officers and the LG are puppets of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"The LG can be a puppet, but the mastermind is Modiji on whose orders all the works of the Delhi government have been stopped.
"Why Kejriwal is sitting inside the LG office for past 20 hours? He is not demanding anything for himself but for the people of Delhi," Singh said. He also alleged that the Central government was against the AAP government in Delhi.
"For the past three years, they (BJP) are working against us. They are unable to digest their defeat at our hands in Delhi.
"This time we want to settle everything, once and for all . We can't have a clash everytime," Singh added.
On the other hand, in a series of tweets, BJP MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa said in order to hide their failures, the AAP is blaming the LG and the Prime Minister and called the party a "drama company". "When fake revolutionary becomes a Chief Minister, this is the level of protest. His own ministers are hiding files and he is accusing the LG and Modiji," he said.
On Satyendra Jain's fast, he said: "After mugging Delhi, now he is holding fast."
Sirsa said when either officers or the LG did not stop the construction of the swimming pools, why would they stop whitewashing of schools. "But the AAP is blaming the LG and the IAS officers for the delay."
Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta also accused the Delhi Ministers of sitting comfortably in the air-conditioned office of the LG when the people outside are trying to grapple with a serious water crisis. "They are lying in the air-conditioned office during the sit-in and being served tasty food from outside, while the people of Delhi are suffering from water crisis. This is a new way to escape from work," Gupta said.
Addressing the media, Gupta also accused Chief Minister Kejriwal of launching an attack on constitutional authorities. "Kejriwal and his team's political strategy of arm-twisting and threatening LG Anil Baijal and IAS officers is an attack on our constitutional authorities and democratic principles.
"LG occupies a constitutional post. He represents the President of India. Any attack on him is an attack on our Constitution and democratic values. The high-voltage drama enacted on Monday night at Raj Niwas after meeting LG was meticulously planned to the minutest details," he said.
Kejriwal must remain within his constitutional limits and allow the LG and the IAS officers to work as per their powers, rights and wisdom, he added.