All’s well that ends well, said the Bard of Avon some 400 years ago. His famous quote typified Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who ended his 9-day sit-in at the lieutenant Governor’s office on Tuesday. A day after rapprochement attempt, top bureaucrats started attending meetings with Ministers, which the Chief Minister termed as a “small victory”.
Earlier the l-G asked the CM to meet the officers in the Secretariat to address their concerns about safety. “The
l-G requested the Chief Minister to urgently meet the officers in the Secretariat so that apprehensions and concerns of both sides can be suitably addressed through dialogue in the best interest of the people of Delhi,” said a statement from the Raj Niwas.
AAP supporters cheered Kejriwal as he came out of the Raj Niwas and accorded a rousing welcome to him at his official residence where he addressed party workers.
“If the l-G has prompted the strike by the IAS officers, it is very unfortunate. It is a small victory. Ninety-nine per cent of the IAS officers are very good. We have done a lot of work in power and water sectors and we could not have done this alone,” Kejriwal told ecstatic party workers.
“But some officers in private told us that they were being pressurised not to work with the AAP Government. We were silent for the last four months over the IAS officers’ strike. But we wanted to resolve the issue. That is why we felt that the matter should be brought before the public. The battle for Delhi’s Statehood will continue,” the Chief Minister said.
later at a hurriedly-called Press briefing, Deputy Chief Minister Sisodia said the sit-in was “not a dharna” as they were “waiting to meet the l-G”.
The Deputy Chief Minister said several meetings, attended by IAS officers, were held on Tuesday. Six IAS officers, including Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash, attended key meetings with AAP Ministers, he added.
Sisodia claimed that some officers have told him that they had pressure but now they (officers) “received the nod from the top” to attend meetings with AAP Ministers.
The bureaucrats have been at loggerheads with the AAP dispensation following the alleged assault on the Chief Secretary in February.
Sisodia and his Cabinet colleague Satyendra Jain, who were on a hunger strike and were hospitalised after their health deteriorated, were discharged from the lNJP Hospital on Tuesday morning.
“Sitting inside the lG’s office cannot resolve the issue of doorstep delivery of ration. I spoke to the Chief Minister and Gopal Rai, and they have agreed that they will come out of the lG’s office,” Sisodia said.
The move came after Baijal, in his first communication to Kejriwal since he began a sit-in at his office, on Tuesday wrote to the Chief Minister, asking him to meet officers urgently to address concerns of both sides.
Baijal shot off the letter in response to Sisodia’s communication in which he had asked for a meeting between the Government and the bureaucrats to end the impasse.
Sisodia said that today’s development indicates that officers are returning to meetings with Ministers while asserting that he had also asked some officers why they were not attending meetings.
“Asked about officers’ demand to hold meeting with the Chief Minister over their safety and dignity, Sisodia said that “our meetings with the officers will be conducted on a daily basis”. He said that “for the last three months, we have been saying that our fight was not with the officers”.
Earlier, as the relations between the AAP Government and the bureaucrats showed signs of a thaw, the IAS officers said they were waiting for a formal communication from Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for a meeting at the Secretariat here to end the impasse.
With the Supreme Court refusing an urgent hearing on a plea seeking its direction to declare as “unconstitutional” the sit-in of Kejriwal and his Cabinet colleagues at the l-G’s office, the Chief Minister sought to put the ball in the l-G’s court, saying he is awaiting a response from Baijal.
“But Baijal is looking for a green signal from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for convening the meeting”, he claimed.
Stepping up its attack on the l-G, the AAP accused him of working “on the behest” of the Centre and not convening a meeting between the Delhi Government and the IAS officers to end the logjam.
Meanwhile, AAP MlAs Somnath Bharti and AK Bagga, who were seeking an appointment to meet Baijal, were allegedly removed by the police from the l-G’s office where they had gone to attend a DDA meeting.
Both Bharti and Bagga, members of the Delhi Development Authority(DDA), after the meeting stayed back at the l-G’s office and sought an appointment to meet Baijal.