Four chief ministers seek to meet LG, await his response
New Delhi: Four non-BJP chief ministers -- Mamata Banerejee of West Bengal, Chandrababu Naidu of Andhra Pradesh, Pinarayi Vijayan of Kerala and H D Kumaraswamy of Karnataka -- visited their Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal's residence on Saturday evening to meet his family members amid his sit-in protest at Lt Governor Anil Baijal's office along with three cabinet colleagues. Earlier in the day, Baijal had denied permission to Banerjee for meeting Kejriwal and the Delhi CM alleged that it was the PMO that had directed Baijal to refuse permission to Banerjee to meet him.
The four non-BJP chief ministers are in Delhi to attend the NITI Aayog meeting to be held on Sunday. They have also sought Baijal's permission to meet him and submit a representation on Kejriwal and his three cabinet colleagues' sit-in at his office. "All of us would like to make a representation to you with respect to the issues concerning the Honourable Chief Minister of Delhi, Shri Arvind Kejriwal. Please grant us a meeting slot today as we are waiting. We request you to give us time around 9 pm today," they said in the letter.
Kejriwal, accompanied by his deputy Manish Sisodia and ministers Satyendar Jain and Gopal Rai have stayed put at the LG office, demanding that Baijal direct IAS officers to end what AAP has described as their "strike" and approve the doorstep ration delivery scheme.
Addressing a Press conference after the fast-paced events on an extraordinary dramatic day, Banerjee said, "This is a Constitutional crisis. But there should never be such a crisis due to which a government and the common people have to suffer."
"There are 2 crore people in Delhi," she pointed out. "Work has been disrupted for the past four months.... There can be nothing more unfortunate than this."
"The LG is the appointed leader. If not he, then to whom will one go to seek time and talk?" asked the West Bengal Chief Minister.
"I wanted to meet the Delhi CM but I was told -- verbally and not even written -- that this permission will not be granted. Then the four of us (Banerejee, Naidu, Vijayan and Kumaraswamy) wrote to the LG for an appointment but we were told that he (LG) is not even there," informed Banerjee.
"We waited so long but we were not allowed. We are not beggars of the streets. We all four Chief Ministers have values. We will meet the PM tomorrow (Sunday) over tea and will ask him to take efforts to solve the matter soon," she added.
"If this problem of Delhi cannot be resolved, how can a country run? The chief minister has been protesting for the last six days and the LG doesn't have time of even six minutes. If the governor doesn't cooperate, then where does a CM go?" she asked. "There are some things beyond politics. That's why I went to see Atalji (ailing ex-PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee) today as we worked together for long. Even if a CM of a BJP-ruled state asks for help, we would stand by definitely," pointed out Banerjee
Speaking at the Press conference, Naidu said, "We came here to express our support to the Delhi CM. The LG has to allow this governmenty to function. Mamata ji had sought permission from the LG to see the CM to which there was no response. We are requesting the Lieutenant Governor and Government of India to talk it out."
"This has happened because of the attitude of the Central government," observed Vijayan. "The Centre is restricting the federal system which is a threat to the nation. Everyone is with him (the Delhi CM). All democratic people are with Delhi CM."
"We came here to show our support for the Delhi CM. We demand that the Prime Minister intervenes in this issue and takes necessary steps to solve this problem," said Kumaraswamy.
