New Delhi: Criticising the decision of four non-NDA chief ministers to extend support to their Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal who has been protesting at the L-G office, the BJP has questioned why they did not object to the assault on Delhi Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash.
Senior BJP leader Vijay Goel said the four leaders "are in the national capital to attend the NITI Aayog meeting and not to do politics. It doesn't suit them".
"Where were they when Delhi Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash was assaulted at Kejriwal's residence in his presence? And what will happen if the chief secretaries of their states also come out in support of Prakash," Goel said.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu, Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy and Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan have rallied behind Kejriwal and sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention in solving the "constitutional crisis”.
After their request for permission to meet the Aam Aadmi Party chief at the L-G's office was verbally denied, the four CMs reached Kejriwal’s home on Saturday evening.
The open support to Kejriwal by the four regional heavyweights — 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 Lok Sabha elections.
But the Congress, which has been eyeing a grand alliance of opposition parties, has been slamming the Delhi chief minister for the sit-in at Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal's office.
Kejriwal and three Cabinet colleagues have been staying put in a waiting room at Raj Niwas, protesting against what they call is a strike by the bureaucrats in the national capital.
The four chief ministers, who are in Delhi to attend a NITI Aayog meeting on Sunday, are expected to take up the matter with the prime minister.
"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," Kumaraswamy said.
"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," Banerjee said.
Earlier on Saturday, the four leaders met at Andhra Bhawan.
The CMs met Kejriwal's wife, members of minister Satyendar Jain's family and several AAP leaders at the Delhi chief minister's home.
“We want this problem to be solved. This has become a constitutional crisis. Ultimately, if this problem is not solved, the people will face issues,” Banerjee said. “If this is happening in the capital, then what will happen in other states? We will meet the prime minister tomorrow (Sunday) and request him to intervene and solve the problem."
The bureaucrats in Delhi are not meeting Delhi ministers as part of their protest against an alleged assault on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash in February. They are demanding an apology from Kejriwal for the incident.
(With PTI inputs)
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