AAP leader and Delhi Cabinet Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Wednesday had a 30-minute-long meeting with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in Tihar, saying he has asked people to not worry about him. Bharadwaj said he met Kejriwal in the ‘mulakat jangla’ and had a converstaion with him over the phone.
Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh alleged the Tihar jail administration cancelled Delhi Minister Atishi’s meeting with Kejriwal at the last moment and said “even the British rule did not see this kind of behavior.” There was no immediate reaction from the Tihar Jail administration.
Bharadwaj said “I had a half-an-hour meeting in the ‘mulakat jangla’. He said people should not worry about him. He said he is strong and he will continue his fight with the blessings of the people of Delhi,” Delhi minister told reporters after the meeting.
The ‘mulakat jangla’ is an iron mesh which separates the inmate from the visitor in a room inside the jail. A visitor and an inmate can talk to each other by sitting on different sides of the mesh.
The Delhi Chief Minister who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case on March 21 has not stepped down and the AAP has asserted that he will continue to run the government from jail.
Earlier, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and AAP’s national general secretary (organisation) Sandeep Pathak met Kejriwal in Tihar Jail on April 15.
After the meeting, Pathak told reporters that Kejriwal will meet two ministers each week and review the progress of work under their respective departments.
After his arrest, Kejriwal had sent messages to his ministers to address issues such as water supply and availability of medicines in government hospitals. He also asked party MLAs to visit their constituencies and offer help to the people there.
Addressing a press conference, Sanjay Singh said that Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj and City Education Minister Atishi were supposed to meet the chief minister in Tihar.
“But Atishi’s meeting was not confirmed yesterday. Delhi Education Minister Atishi applied for the meeting and at the last moment her meeting was cancelled,” Singh said.
“After her meeting was cancelled, party national general secretary (organisation) Sandeep Pathak was supposed to accompany Bharadwaj, but he was informed around 9.30 am today that even his meeting was cancelled,” he added.
Singh questioned the reasons behind the move and feared that Kejriwal might not even be allowed to meet his wife in future.
“You are cancelling a MP’s meeting, a minister’s meeting with Kejriwal. You had cancelled my meeting with him earlier. Tomorrow you might cancel the meeting with his wife. Even the British rule did not see this kind of behaviour,” he said.
Singh said he would be writing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena regarding the same.
“He is being meted out worse treatment than the one meted out to terrorists or hardcore criminals. They are allowed to meet in person their lawyers and their families but you are stopping his meetings,” he said. The AAP leader said “no reason was given” for cancellation of the meeting.
