Nothing less than written apology by CM Kejriwal: Officers

The people of Delhi are going to face a tough time in the days ahead as Delhi Government officers are not ready to relent in the ongoing tussle between officers and the elected government, which arose due to alleged physical assault on Chief Secretary, Anshu Prakash, by AAP MLAs at midnight in the intervening night of February 19 and 20.

The Joint Forum of Delhi Government Employees met on Monday to discuss the offer of dialogue by Minister Rajendar Pal Gautam. According to sources, the Delhi government has deputed Gautam to mediate with the protesting officers.

It was decided in the meeting that until Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia tender a written public apology for the assault there will be no talks with politicians.

The resolution, passed by the Joint Forum, notes that “instead of apologising and admitting their mistake of assault on the Chief Secretary both Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister are in denial mode”.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal along with his council of Minister met Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal to defuse the tension. After the meeting LG openly condemned the incident and stated that violence has no place in democracy. On this issue LG also met the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and apprised him the situation.

Expressing concern over the developments, the Joint Forum noted, “Not only has the political executive failed to condemn or regret the above incident, but also more incidents of public representatives misbehaving with and threatening government servants have taken place in the intervening period, and sadly, an open threat by the MLA was given in the presence Chief Minister and Chief Minister has made no statement condemning the same”.

Defending themselves, the representative of the Joint Forum, Pooja Gupta, said, “While protesting against the political executive we are ensuring that the work does not suffer and during this period we have cleared all the files that have come to us”.

Meanwhile five-minute silence protest was observed by officers in many parts of country. Whatever the officers may say but due to ongoing tussle several key sectors will be affected.