Delhi stalemate: 4 CMs extend support to Kejriwal; all you need to know

West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee, Kerala's Pinarayi Vijayan, Karnataka's H.D. Kumaraswamy and Andhra Pradesh's N. Chandrababu Naidu came in support of Delhi CM

The stalemate in Delhi between Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal entered the seventh day on Sunday. 

The AAP government and the bureaucracy have been at loggerheads since the alleged assault on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash by AAP MLAs at Kejriwal's residence in February.

Kejriwal alleged that Delhi government officials, who have been boycotting meetings with AAP ministers after the alleged assault on Prakash, are being "threatened" into continuing their strike.
 

He has been protesting at the Raj Niwas, demanding that the "strike" by bureaucrats in the city be called off.  The L-G's office slammed Kejriwal's sit-in, saying it was one more "dharna without reason".
 

The sit-in started on June 11 after Kejriwal along with Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and other cabinet colleagues Satyendar Jain and Gopal Rai met Lt Governor Anil Baijal and demanded that he direct the IAS officers to call off their "strike" and punish those who struck work "for four months". He also asked the L-G to approve his government's proposal on doorstep delivery of rations scheme.

The developments after the start of the sit-in have given a boost to a political slugfest in Delhi

The Delhi CM's wife Sunita Kejriwal on Thursday accused the security of Lt. Governor Anil Baijal of not letting her see her husband.

Tweeting a photograph of herself with Kejriwal's mother and wives of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Cabinet minister Satyendar Jain, she urged Baijal to allow her to see her husband.

"Respected LG sir, are we four ladies, mother and wife of CM, wife of Dy CM and wife of Satyendar Jain threat to your security that you are not allowing us to enter the road leading to your house? Kindly intervene. Please do not feel so threatened by everyone (sic)," she tweeted.

Amid the row, chief ministers of four states expressed solidarity with Kejriwal and demanded Centre's intervention. 

The chief ministers - West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee, Kerala's Pinarayi Vijayan, Karnataka's H.D. Kumaraswamy and Andhra Pradesh's N. Chandrababu Naidu - held a press conference at Kejriwal's residence and accused the Central government of "restricting the federal system", terming it a threat to the nation. 

The chief ministers, who are in Delhi to attend a meeting of the Niti Aayog, asked the Centre to resolve the "crisis" immediately. 

They also said they were denied permission to meet Kejriwal and the Lt Governor Anil Baijal and termed the developments in Delhi as "constitutional crisis".

"I wanted to meet the Delhi chief minister but I was told, verbally, that permission will not be granted. Then four of us wrote to the LG for an appointment, but we were told that he is not there. We were not allowed," West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said.

"This is a constitutional crisis. But there should never be such crisis due to which a government and the common people have to suffer," Banerjee said.

Banerjee had earlier expressed her support for Kejriwal on Twitter also.

Karnataka chief minister H D Kumaraswamy said: "We came here to show our support to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. We demand that the Prime Minister interferes and takes necessary steps to solve the problem."

BJP MP Subramanian Swamy attacked Kejriwal and questioned the support of his four counterparts.
The Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday said it would lead a massive protest march to the Prime Minister's Office on Sunday evening.

However, Madhur Verma, DCP New Delhi, said that the AAP had not applied for permission to hold the protest march near PM's residence. 

"AAP has not applied for permission for a protest march. At the time of protest, the exit gates of 4 metro stations namely Udyog Bhawan, Lok Kalyan Marg, Patel Chowk & Central Secretariat will be closed," he said in an interview to ANI.

Union Minister Vijay Goel hit out at the four non-NDA Chief Ministers for backing their Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal in his ongoing rift with Lieutenant Governor of Delhi.

Criticising the decision of the chief ministers for extending support to Kejriwal, Goel on Saturday questioned as to why they did not object to the assault on Delhi Chief Secretary, Anshu Prakash.

"Do these four Chief Ministers know what led to this crisis? Where were these people when Delhi's Chief Secretary was being humiliated and assaulted? This crisis began from there," Goyal told ANI.

The Congress, however, has been slamming the Delhi chief minister for the sit-in at Lieutenant Governor's office.

Former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit held Kejriwal responsible for the "stalemate" and advised him to approach Prime Minister Narendra Modi and demand full statehood instead of protesting.

She also accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of protesting to hide their failures on real issues. "For this stalemate in Delhi, Kejriwal is responsible," she said.

CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury accused the central government of using LG to "obstruct" Dellhi government from discharging its constitutional duties.

Former Union minister Yashwant Sinha also showed solidarity with Kejriwal and said a prime minister like Atal Bihari Vajpayee would have held talks with the Delhi Chief Minister to break the ongoing impasse as he took a dig at the BJP leadership, saying he had no regrets for not working with these "small time leaders".

Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel also attacked Lt Governor Anil Baijal and lent his support to the demands of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his ministers.

The sit-in by Kejriwal and his ministers received more political support including from Tamil actor Kamal Haasan and parties like the RJD, CPI (M) and the CPI which accused the BJP-led central government of creating hurdles in the work of AAP government.

Haasan, who in February launched his own political party --- Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) -- in Tamil Nadu at an event attended by Kejriwal, said that interference in the functioning of an elected government is "unacceptable in a democracy".

"Interference in the functioning of an elected government is unacceptable in a democracy. In fact what is happening in Delhi and in TN/Pondicherry are not too different. It is frustrating for people who want a change for the better," he tweeted.

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said that the "dictatorial Centre" has made a "mockery of democracy" in Delhi and Puduchery.

Yadav said that interference in the functioning of elected governments through "pawns of the Centre is bloodying the contexts and aspirations of the democracy".

Rebel JD (U) leader Sharad Yadav also came out in support of Kejriwal, saying "the elected government is not being allowed to work for one reason or the other." 

"It is not a good precedent being set that the elected government is not allowed to work. It may be mentioned that this is not a failure of the state government, but the people of Delhi are being neglected due to the unnecessary tussle between the LG and the state government," he said in a statement.

Yadav urged the central government to take "initiative" to settle the issues of Delhi government once for all so that the people of Delhi "feel comfortable".

The Delhi unit of Communist Party of India (CPI) also strongly condemned the attitude of Lt Governor Anil Baijal "by not meeting" the chief minister and his ministers who are sitting in the waiting hall of the LG Secretariat office.

"The CPI is of the view that no constitutional authority in Delhi can be an agent of any political party or its ideology and cannot bypass or neglect the elected government of Delhi," the party said in a statement.

Earlier, the RLD too had supported Kejriwal on the issue.

Meanwhile, to counter Kejriwal and his ministers' sit-in, BJP leaders and rebel AAP legislator Kapil Mishra also sat on a dharna at the chief minister's office against the "non-performance" of the AAP dispensation.

Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta and MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa said the sit-in would continue till their demands were met by the AAP government.

Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari, in a tweet, said the sit-in by Kejriwal and his cabinet colleagues at the Lieutenant Governor's office was a "mockery of democracy".

Delhi's bureaucrats used social media to counter the AAP government's allegations that IAS officers were on a "strike", creating the hashtag "#DelhiatworkNoToStrike" to list the recent work done by them and stress the point that they were all at work.

The IAS AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory) Cadre Association took to Twitter to give details about works done by officers of Delhi government.

"Every office and officer has been working diligently. Facts speak for themselves," the association tweeted with photos of officers working in their respective offices.

In another tweet, the association said, "Lies should not be spread. All officers are hard at work."
 

The officers' association issued a statement, refuting Kejriwal's allegations that officers have been on strike since the alleged assault on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash at the CM's residence on the intervening night of February 19-20.

"It is strongly reiterated that Officers/Officials continue to work with full vigour and dedication, in fact, many times even on holidays...," it said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court on Thursday agreed to hear on June 18 a plea seeking to declare the sit-in by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his cabinet colleagues as unconstitutional and illegal.

The plea filed by petitioner Hari Nath Ram sought direction for discharging the chief ministerial obligations and responsibilities as the entire functioning of the Chief Minister office of National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi has been brought to a "stand still" since the sit-in started.

The three mayors of Delhi had on Wednesday said they would stage a protest at the doorstep of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's office if the AAP government did not release the funds "due to the civic bodies".

The mayors -- Adesh Gupta (North Delhi), Narendra Chawla (South Delhi) and Bipin Bihari Singh (East Delhi) held a joint press conference at the Civic Centre.

"If the AAP government does not release the funds due to the civic bodies, then we would stage a protest at the doorstep of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal," they said.

They also claimed that if the demands are not met then the corporations would file "a contempt of court suit against the Delhi government".