 "Delhi CS row: Kejriwal part of conspiracy, say employees, demand action")
The political storm over the alleged attack on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash by two Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs took a new turn Monday, with a Delhi government employees' body demanding action against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia.
Last week, the Chief Secretary had alleged that he was beaten up by AAP MLAs Amanatullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal in the presence of Kejriwal at the Chief Minister's residence, where he had been called for a meeting on February 19 night.
The allegation triggered a political storm in the capital and the two AAP legislators were later arrested and sent to judicial custody.
Meanwhile, sources acquainted with the incident said the Delhi government was planning to live-stream all official meetings and make them available online to the public in the light of the alleged attack. But no details or deadline were announced for the proposal.
On Monday, multiple media reports claimed that police had told a city court that CCTV footages collected from the Chief Minister's house in connection with the alleged assault have been tampered with. However, the Delhi Police rejected the reports dubbing them "factually wrong and irresponsible".
Senior AAP leaders also met Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik and submitted video "evidence" of an AAP minister and MLA being manhandled inside the Secretariat last week by a group protesting against the alleged attack on the Chief Secretary.
The AAP said they had been assured of police action against the perpetrators.
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After a meeting of the Delhi Government Employees Joint Forum at the Secretariat, Pooja Joshi, a member of the forum, reading out from a resolution said: "The Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister are in denial (of the alleged attack on the Chief Secretary). This shows they are part of the conspiracy. We appeal to the LG and the Commissioner of Police to take action as per law against CM and Deputy CM."
Joshi also said that they would continue to not meet the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister and MLAs for official meetings or talk over the phone and would keep contact only through notes and file notings.
The forum also turned down an invitation by Social Welfare Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam for a meeting and said that there would not be any compromise till the Kejriwal tenders a "written public apology" for the incident.
Responding to it, Pal told the media that the government had to inch a step forward and speak to the officers. Now the officers had to give a positive response to resolve the issue.
"This is a family and we are part of the family and have to work together. Trust building can't happen from one side...both sides have to come forward," the Minister said.
Pal, however, avoided answering a question on whether the Chief Minister would apologise for the incident.
Speaking about the plan to live-stream government meetings, an official told IANS that it would help people to know who spoke what in the meetings, "be it the elected representative or officials".
The official said that they were also planning to make details of file notings and file movements available in the public domain. Currently, files can be accessed only in an intranet of the government.
Speaking about reports on the CCTV footages seized from the Chief Minister's house being tampered, Additional DCP Harendra Kumar Singh said: "Some media (outlets) are claiming that the police has said in the court that the CCTVs have been tampered with. It is factually wrong and irresponsible. Only FSL (forensic science laboratory) will be able to tell if any tampering had been done."
Responding to media reports on alleged tampering of CCTV footages, AAP MP Sanjay Singh said: "CCTV cameras come under the supervision of the police. Delhi Police should be questioned if they were tampered with."