Four CMs ask PM Modi to end Delhi logjam

New Delhi: The chief ministers of four Indian states met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday and urged him to intervene for solving the tussle between the lieutenant governor and government of Delhi, terming it a "constitutional crisis".

On the sidelines of the governing council meeting of government think tank NITI Aayog, West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee, Andhra Pradesh's Chandrababu Naidu, Kerala's Pinarayi Vijayan, and Karnataka's H D Kumaraswamy requested Modi to resolve the crisis, so the "federal structure of the Constitution is maintained".

"I along with the Hon'ble CMs of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala have requested Hon'ble PM today to resolve the problems of Delhi government immediately (sic)," Banerjee tweeted after meeting with Modi.

On Saturday, the four chief ministers, after being denied a meeting with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, had announced that they would raise the issue with the prime minister. The open support to Kejriwal by the four regional heavyweights - from the Trinamool Congress, Telugu Desam Party, Janata Dal (Secular) and Communist Party of India (Marxist) - comes amid opposition efforts to cobble together a rainbow coalition ahead of the 2019 general elections.

Kejriwal accompanied by his deputy Manish Sisodia and ministers Satyendar Jain, and Gopal Rai have stayed put at the LG office since Monday demanding that Baijal direct Indian Administrative Service officers to end what the ruling Aam Aadmi Party described as their "strike" and approve the doorstep ration delivery scheme.

Meanwhile, the IAS officers of Delhi held an unprecedented press conference on Sunday to allege that they were being victimised in a political battle. See P3