New Delhi: Chief Ministers of West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Karnataka arrived at Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal’s office to meet and extend support to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is currently protesting here with Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and other ministers.
However, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu were denied permission to do the same.
Kejriwal, along with Sisodia and Cabinet ministers Satyendra Jain and Gopal Rai, is camping at Raj Niwas since June 11 demanding a direction to the IAS officers working under the Delhi administration to end their ‘undeclared strike’, among other demands.
Extending their support to Kejriwal, the four chief ministers in a joint press conference outside Baijal’s office sought the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to end the ongoing rift between the Delhi Lt. Governor and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.
“This is a constitutional crisis.but there should never be such crisis due to which a government and the common people have to suffer. I wanted to meet Delhi Chief Minister but I was told, verbally and not even written, that permission will not be granted. Then four of us wrote to Lt. Governor for an appointment but we were told that he (LG) is not even there. We waited so long but we were not allowed,” said Mamata.
“There are two crore people in Delhi. The work has been disrupted for four months; there can be nothing more unfortunate than this. Lt. Governor is the appointed leader, if not he then to whom will one to go to seek time and talk? We will tell the Prime Minister to intervene in this matter and solve it. Had the President been here, we would have told him too. This is a democracy and that is how a democracy functions,” she added.
Echoing a similar stance, Kumaraswamy too urged the intervention of Prime Minister Modi in the matter.
“We came here to show our support to Delhi Chief Minister. We demand that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi interferes in this issue and takes necessary steps to solve this problem,” he said.
Meanwhile, Naidu said the matter should be sorted through dialogue.
“We came here to express our support to Delhi Chief Minister. The Lt. Governor has to allow this government to function. Mamata ji had asked permission from the Lt Governor to see the chief minister, to which there was no response. We are requesting the Lt. Governor and Government of India to talk it out,” said Naidu.
Coming out in support, Kerala Chief Minister Vijayan asserted that all democratic people are with Kejriwal.
“Because of the attitude of Central Government, this happened. Centre is restricting the federal system which is a threat to the nation. Everyone is with him (Delhi Chief Minister). All the democratic people are with Kejriwal,” he said.
Earlier, the four chief ministers visited Kejriwal’s residence to meet his family before meeting the former at the Lt Governor office.
The Chief Ministers also wrote a letter to the Lieutenant Governor seeking an appointment to meet over the issues concerning Kejriwal and the Delhi government.
Kejriwal has also actively taken to his Twitter account to advocate his perspectives and views on the issue.
(With ANI inputs)