Stand-off continues in Delhi; 2 AAP legislators held

The city administration in Delhi was paralysed for the second day on Wednesday after Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash was allegedly assaulted by MLAs of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), two of whom were remanded in judicial custody on Wednesday.

The counsel for the two MLAs, Amantullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal, argued before the Metropolitan Magistrate, Shefali Barnala Tandon, that they were victims of a “power struggle between the Centre and the NCT of Delhi”.

The magistrate rejected Delhi Police’s plea for a police remand of the two legislators and sent them to jail for a day.

A medical examination of the Chief Secretary reportedly showed bruises around his neck and ears. In his complaint to the police, Anshu Prakash had alleged that Khan and Jarwal delivered “blows with fists” to his “head and temple”. “My spectacles fell on the ground. I was in a state of shock. With difficulty, I was able to leave the room and get into my official car and leave [the] CM’s residence.”

The Chief Secretary was describing the alleged incident that took place at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence at midnight on February 19-20. Anshu Prakash claimed he had been summoned to Kejriwal’s residence by VK Jain, the CM’s Advisor for a midnight meeting pertaining to the release of the government’s TV advertisements and publicity. Eleven AAP legislators were present at the meeting, which was chaired by Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia.

The AAP has termed the charges “ludicrous” and asserted that this was another instance of the bureaucracy heeding the Centre’s diktats and crippling the functioning of a popularly elected government. The party said the midnight meeting was related to the provision of rations to the poor, and was not about government ads as the Chief Secretary (CS) had claimed.

“About 2.5 lakh families have been deprived of rations last month due to faulty implementation of Aadhaar. MLAs were under tremendous pressure from the public. There was a meeting of MLAs at the CM’s residence. The CS refused to answer questions saying he was not answerable to MLAs and that he was only answerable to the Lieutenant Governor. He even used bad language against some MLAs and left without answering any questions. Now he is making such ludicrous allegations. Obviously, he is doing it at the BJP’s behest. The BJP has stooped very low in disrupting governance in Delhi through the LG and officers,” said the AAP official statement.

Prakash, who has been accused by AAP of acting on the Centre’s behest, was also witnessed coming out of the Prime Minister Office (PMO) this afternoon.

Meanwhile, officers and staff at Delhi Secretariat continued their non-cooperation movement against the government, with some wearing black bands to protest the attack on the CS.

This is the latest in a series of conflicts between the Delhi government and the Centre. Since the AAP swept Delhi elections in February 2015, cornering a whopping 54.34 per cent of the vote share and 67 of the total 70 seats, the party has been at loggerheads with the BJP-led Centre. There have been multiple conflicts, including a territorial war with the Lieutenant Governor, and criminal cases against several MLAs. Twenty-one AAP MLAs have been disqualified under the Office of Profit rules.

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