Delhi chief secretary Anshu Prakash allegedly assaulted at Kejriwal’s residence, IAS officers protest
A group of IAS officers met L-G Anil Baijal on Tuesday and demanded that an FIR be registered and the culprits be arrested, signalling another possible face-off between the AAP and the state’s bureaucracy.
Delhi chief secretary Anshu Prakash has been allegedly manhandled by two MLAs of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) at chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence, bureaucrats of the state government said on Tuesday.
The chief secretary could not be reached for comments. But the BJP took potshots at Kejriwal’s party, which denied the allegations and approached lieutenant governor Anil Baijal for action against Prakash’s “misconduct” at a meeting with the CM.
Signalling another possible face-off between the AAP and the state’s bureaucracy, a group of IAS officers met L-G Baijal on Tuesday and demanded that an FIR be registered and the culprits be arrested.
Kejriwal’s government has had several run-ins with the L-G’s office over the transfer of bureaucrats and the administrative control of the Capital.
The AAP said even in Monday night’s meeting Prakash said he was not answerable to the MLAs but to the L-G.
A senior bureaucrat in the government, who did not want to be named, said, “The CM had called the CS (Prakash) for a meeting at his residence on Monday evening. But two AAP MLAs abused and manhandled him, after which he left the meeting.”
Two other bureaucrats confirmed the incident.
DN Singh, a DANICS officer and a member of the Delhi Government Employees Welfare Association, said this was a constitutional crisis. “If the chief secretary can be attacked, we are not safe.”
Manisha Saxena, the secretary of the IAS association, said: “As far as IAS and DANICS associations are concerned, there is not going to be any strike. We will continue to work for the welfare of Delhi’s public, but we will work with a black badge. We have expressed deep concerns to the L-G on the incident that happened on Monday night. We hope the L-G will take strong action. There is a criminal conspiracy to assault Delhi’s chief secretary.”
The AAP said the allegations were “bizarre”.
It said the chief secretary was meeting Kejriwal and MLAs to discuss why a large number of families were not getting ration due to the glitches in the implementation of Aadhaar.
“The chief secretary is doing this at the behest of the Centre...In a meeting at CM house, the CS told the MLAs that he is not answerable to the elected MLAs, and that he is only answerable to the L-G. The allegation of physical manhandling are completely baseless and bizarre,” AAP spokesperson and Greater Kailash MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj said.
Party MLA Amanatullah Khan too denied the allegations. “The CS said he is not answerable to us...He got angry and had stormed out... MLAs went after him to get him back. He still went out. If there was a problem, he should have dialled 100. Why is he acting this way afterwards? It is shameful,” he said.
Anil Baijal l, the AAP MLA from Devli, sent a complaint to the L-G’s office and the Delhi Police commissioner, seeking action against Prakash for his conduct at the meeting.
He alleged that the chief secretary used derogatory language against him and MLA Ajay Dutt when they asked him about problems in ration delivery.
Taking a dig at Kejriwal’s party, BJP’s Delhi unit chief Manoj Tiwari criticised the “shameful” act on Twitter.
“Arvind Kejriwal and his goon MLAs misbehaved and threatened the Chief secretary of NCT Delhi Government last night... another shameful act of Aam Aadmi Party Goons...”
