Arvind Kejriwal and Co Turn Protest in L-G's Waiting Room Into Sleepover

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his cabinet colleagues, including Manish Sisodia and Satyendra Jain, met Lt Governor Anil Baijal on Monday evening with three demands and later decided to stay put at his office till their three demands were accepted. The sit-in protest that started around 6pm in the evening, went on till late in the night and Kejriwal vowed to continue to protest till action was taken.

AAP’s demand include a direction to IAS officers to end their "strike" and action against officers who have struck work for "four months".

Lt Governor Baijal slammed the sit-in by Kejriwal and his three cabinet colleagues, calling it another dharna without reason" and alleged that he was "threatened" by the chief minister to summon officers at the Raj Niwas and end their "strike".

He was also demanding approval to the proposal for doorstep delivery of ration.

"LG refuses to take action. LG is under constitutional duty to act. Left with no option, we have politely told the LG that we will not leave till he acts on all points. We have come out of his chamber and sitting in his waiting room," Kejriwal said in a tweet.

As Kejriwal and Sisodia kept waiting inside L-G's house, several other AAP leaders, including Atishi Marlena, sat on a dharna outside the residence and were even seen having their dinners sitting on the road.

In a statement, the L-G office said Baijal told Kejriwal during their meeting that there was "no strike" by officers and advised the CM to build an "atmosphere of trust" and address the genuine concerns of the bureaucracy, which has been been at loggerheads with the Kejriwal government since the alleged assault on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash by AAP MLAs in February.

Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and two ministers Gopal Rai and Satyendar Jain met Baijal on Monday evening and decided to stay put at his office till their three demands were accepted, including a direction to IAS officers to end their "strike" and action against officers who have struck work for "four months".

Kejriwal tweeted at 6 pm from the waiting room of the LG office that a letter was handed over to Baijal but he refused to take action.

Later, Baijal left his office for a pre-scheduled appointment, even as the CM and his three ministers stayed in the waiting room of the L-G Secretariat. As the L-G refused immediate action, the senior AAP leaders sat on a protest at the residence's waiting room and have vowed to continue to do so till the demands are met.

The L-G office said that it is another protest by AAP in the sequence of dharna without reason".

"In the meeting, the L-G was threatened by the CM who demanded that the officers should be immediately summoned at Raj Niwas and directions should be given to end the so-called strike'," the statement by L-G office said.

"In an unprecedented move that betrays little respect and dignity for constitutional offices, CM, deputy CM and the two ministers remained defiant and continued to pressurise that the officers must be immediately summoned to Raj Niwas and the so-called agitation' be called off, and immediate approval of proposal for doorstep delivery of rations be given.

"In response, it was reiterated by L-G that there is no strike by employees and in his continued interactions with officers, it has been informed that the atmosphere of mistrust and fear continues and no sincere attempts to resolve the differences have been made so far," it said.

"Two wrongs never make a right. Since the CM and ministers refused to listen to this suggestion and as L-G had pre-scheduled appointments at his residence, he had no option but to leave the office," the L-G office stated.

About the CM's demand for L-G's nod for proposed doorstep delivery of ration, the statement stated that the file on the scheme is still lying with the Civil Supplies Minister Imran Hussain for nearly three months.

"Hence, it will only be appropriate to expedite the matter of taking up the proposal with the Government of India at the earliest as pointed out by the law department, GNCTD that such a scheme requires prior approval of Central Govt. under National Food Security Act, 2013," it stated.

(With agency inputs)