Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday accused the Centre of obstructing his government’s functioning. The Prime Minister’s Office and the lieutenant governor are threatening officers to ensure they protest against the Delhi government and hinder work, The Hindu quoted Kejriwal as saying.
“The officers have been on strike for four months,” Kejriwal said at a press conference in New Delhi. “In private, the officers say there is no demand and that they are being threatened to continue the strike. It has been orchestrated by the PMO and coordinated by the LG.”
Bureaucrats had held a protest against the state’s political leadership on February 20, a day after two Aam Aadmi Party MLAs allegedly assaulted Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash during a meeting at Kejriwal’s residence. Since then, bureaucrats who are part of the Delhi administration have boycotted all personal meetings with ministers and communicated only in writing.
This, Kejriwal said on Monday, is an “illegal strike”. He added that he would urge Lieutenant Governor Anij Baijal to declare it as such and take action by Monday evening.
The chief minister also claimed that the Central Bureau of Investigation was taking orders from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah. Listing 14 cases against Aam Aadmi Party ministers, he said the investigative agency had not been able to find any evidence.
‘Lieutenant governor, quit Delhi’
The Aam Aadmi Party also announced a campaign across the city from June 17 seeking statehood for Delhi. Likening the demand to the Independence struggle, Kejriwal said the party would run a “LG, Delhi Chhodo” – or “lieutenant governor, quit Delhi” – campaign.
“If we want to open colleges, they [lieutenant governors] do not allow. It is not the issue of just development... Our ancestors had also fought for freedom of the country,” Kejriwal said, according to PTI. “Delhi gives Rs. 1.3 lakh crore tax to the Centre, but we get nothing in lieu of this.”
He added: “Every person in Delhi will get good job and every family will get own house if Delhi is given full statehood status.”
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