L-G writes to Kejriwal to end deadlock; AAP govt and IAS officers ready for a truce, issues to be addressed in a meet
Ending his long silence, Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Anil Baijal wrote to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday asking him to end the ongoing war with the IAS officers and address the concerns of both sides in a meeting. The letter came a day after Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia expressed the willingness to sort out the issues with the bureaucrats.
"The L-G stated that he was glad that the CM had tweeted an appeal to the officers assuring them of safety and security in their interactions with the elected government. The L-G observed that he has been informed that the officers have also welcomed the appeal and they are awaiting the CM's presence at the Secretariat to hold discussions," a statement from L-G house stated. Baijal had earlier advised the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government to make efforts to restore trust between the elected government and the officers.
Kejriwal along with Sisodia, Satyendar Jain and Gopal Rai had been on a sit-in protest at L-G house since June 11 demanding the L-G to order the IAS officers to end their four-month-long "illegal strike".
The IAS officers of Delhi government wrote an open letter to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday. The officers talked about the behaviour of few AAP MLAs that made them feel unsafe.
"We request you not to label us with any political dispensation. We strive to work as per law and the Constitution. We reiterate that we as bureaucrats and civil servants are politically neutral. We have served under different political parties over the years, and in a democratic system, we will continue to do so," the officers said in their letter.
The officers are now waiting for the CM to officially communicate to them about the date and time of the meeting. "We have communicated everything that we wanted to. Not, the CM should take the final call about the date of the meeting. We were just concerned about the safety of all the officers," said an officer requesting anonymity.
On Tuesday, a meeting was called with four important departments - revenue, transport, food and supplies, and general administration. The stand-off between the AAP government and the IAS fraternity begin when Delhi Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash was allegedly assaulted by the AAP MLAs in February.
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