It was Shoaib Iqbal, the Member of legislative Assembly (MlA) from Matia Mahal seat, who brought peace between Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi Chief Minister and the Delhi Police on Tuesday. Iqbal’s backroom parleys with Delhi Police brass and the Aam Admi Party (AAP) leadership paid dividends when he managed to convince Kejriwal to end the stalemate that was creating such a bad image of the country.
The appeal of lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung too came at the opportune moment in which he appealed to the Chief Minister to call off the dharna as Republic Day parade at Rajpath was sacrosanct and its glory should be respected.
The deal according to the sources was that the lieutenant Governor will issue an appeal and also explain the rationale behind his ordering the judicial inquiry and asking the concerned police officials to proceed on leave till the enquiry was over. Earlier the lone Janta Dal United (JDU) MlA who was acting as an emissary had met the top Delhi Police officials who explained that once a judicial enquiry is ordered, the concerned officials are deemed to be on the leave. Hence the demand of the Chief Minister to ask for their heads was not tenable. Delhi Police top brass also conveyed it to Iqbal that further action against the police officials will follow if there were adverse findings against them.
Iqbal said that Special Commissioner of Police, law and Order Deepak Mishra told him that the solution was that the concerned police officials could be sent on leave pending the judicial enquiry. Mishra was categorical that there was no question of suspending the policemen.
Talking to The Pioneer, Iqbal said, “I met Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Revenue Minister Manish Sisodia and law Minister Somnath Bharti in a car near Rail Bhawan and discussed the issue and the ground reality with them. I told them that whatever was happening was in bad taste and the road block should end as that was in the wider interest of the country”. “I again met Deepak Mishra and told him the details of his talks with Kejriwal. Iqbal had also met the lieutenant Governor along with independent MlA from Mundka Rambir Shokeen to sort out the contentious issue”, Iqbal further said.
It was an initiative by Iqbal himself as he wanted to end this impasse. AAP ideologue Yogendra Yadav too was in constant touch with the lieutenant Governor. Finally a meeting took place among Yadav, Kejriwal and Sisodia in Press Club. They discussed their statement before the media. A draft was readied by the lieutenant Governor office and the announcement was made to the public and the agitation was called off.