New Delhi:
As Arvind Kejriwal’s face-off with Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal entered Day 3, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia joined cabinet colleague and fellow protester Satyendar Jain in an indefinite fast. Tweeting a "Good Morning" to Delhi, the Chief Minister promised that his agitation will continue. After an initial communique on Monday, there has been no response from the office of Mr Baijal, in whose waiting room the sit-down strike by Mr Kejriwal, Mr Sisodia, Mr Jain and Gopal Rai has been in progress since Monday evening.
Here is your 10-point cheatsheet to this big story:
- Arvind Kejriwal and his ministers contend that Delhi’s IAS officers have not been attending meetings with ministers or picking up their calls since the alleged assault on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash in February. The government says the "strike" has affected many initiatives, including setting up of mohalla clinics, building of drains and release of funds to private schools under the economically weaker sections category.
- The IAS officers have dismissed the government’s accusation as "baseless". But in a communique, they admitted that the officers are "not attending routine meetings called by the ministers and the CM".
- In a statement, Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal’s office backed the IAS officers, saying they have been working as usual and the onus was on Mr Kejriwal and his ministers to improve the relationship with bureaucrats. The communique also accused Mr Kejriwal of "threatening" the Lt Governor and holding a "dharna without reason".
- Mr Kejriwal, who accuses the Centre of trying to remote control the Delhi government through the Lieutenant-Governor, tweeted today: Aren’t IAS officers merely tools being used by Modi govt to scuttle good work being done by Del govt? Is it possible for IAS officers to return to work without green signal from PMO?"
- Mr Kejriwal has informed the Lieutenant Governor that if the officers did not end the strike, the Delhi government will be forced to impose ESMA – a law to punish those who disrupt essential services.
- In a Hindi tweet, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said: "Today, I am also sitting on an indefinite hunger strike to ensure that Delhiites get their right and also get their pending works cleared. Satyendar Jain’s hunger strike is continuing since yesterday…".
- The opposition BJP, which contends that Mr Kejriwal’s protest is merely a ploy to shirk work, has planned a rally to his house to flag power and water scarcity in Delhi. The Delhi cabinet is expected to hold a meeting later today.
- Mr Kejriwal’s protest has pitched archrivals BJP and the Congress on the same side. Both parties have termed his "dharna" a "drama" and a "mockery of democracy".
- Mr Kejriwal and his ministers went to meet Mr Baijal on Monday evening, asking that he help end the stand-off between Delhi’s bureaucrats and the government and give clearance to a scheme for door-to-door delivery of rations for the poor. They started the sit-in protest when he refused.
- The government of Delhi, which is a Union territory, does not have control over land, police or law and order. Its decisions have to be signed off by the Lieutenant Governor, which has triggered the tussle between the Centre’s representative and the Delhi government. Last week, Mr Kejriwal launched a campaign for the full statehood of Delhi.
- Source: NDTV
