Kejriwal attacks Modi govt, sit-in protest at LG Baijal’s office enters 3rd day

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of using senior civil servants to scuttle his work, commenting as his sit-in protestat lieutenant governor Anil Baijal’s office entered its third day.

“Aren’t IAS officers merely tools being used by Modi govt to scuttle good work being done by Del govt (sic)? Is it possible for IAS officers to return to work without green signal from PMO?” said Kejriwal on Twitter about his allegation that civil servants of the Indian Administrative Service are not cooperating with him and his ministers.

Kejriwal, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, home minister Satyendar Jain, and developement minister Gopal Rai went to speak to Baijal on Monday evening and then announced they will not leave till the L-G ensures IAS officers end their “partial strike”. They spent Monday night on sofas in the waiting room – food was sent for them from their homes and they used the facilities down the corridor from the waiting room.

Kejriwal wrote on Twitter that Sisodia was going on a hunger strike to follow Jain, who began Tuesday to protest Baijal’s “inaction”.

Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and the bureaucracy have been at loggerheads since an alleged assault on chief secretary Anshu Prakash at Kejriwal’s residence on February 19.

The government, which denies that Prakash was assaulted, has claimed that bureaucrats have been skipping meetings with ministers and working through written communication since the incident.

Baijal’s office had said on Monday that Kejriwal and his colleagues were staging a “dharna without reason” as there was no strike by the bureaucrats. The IAS officers Association of the Delhi government said that there was no strike and blamed Kejriwal and his cabinet colleagues for not making sincere efforts to resolve the differences.