Delhi bureaucrats on strike; Rajnath Singh says 'deeply pained’ with Chief Secretary assault incident

NewsBharati    20-Feb-2018
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New Delhi, February 20: The Chief Secretary of Delhi, Anshu Prakash has alleged that he was roughed up Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs. Now, the incident has triggered protests by employees of Delhi Secretariat.

The Union Home Ministry has sought a report over the ongoing crisis between the AAP government and the IAS officers in the Union Territory of Delhi. Delhi Chief Secretary has alleged that he was beaten by AAP MLA's at the residence of Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal. 

Home Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted about the issue saying, "I am deeply pained by the happenings involving the Chief Secretary of the Delhi Government. The civil servants should be allowed to work with dignity and without fear".

IAS Association Secretary Manisha Saxena said that Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash was "manhandled" and "mistreated" at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence here on Monday and termed it a "planned criminal conspiracy".

The Indian Administrative Service officers would work on Tuesday with a black band as a mark of protest, Saxena said.

Speaking to the media after a meeting with Lt. Governor Anil Baijal, Saxena said that the bureaucrat body have asked Baijal to take strict action. A police complaint had already been filed.

She also said that the association will meet Home Minister Rajnath Singh and President Ram Nath Kovind to highlight the issue. "There should be criminal action against everyone involved," Saxena added.

However, the Delhi government spokesperson Nagendar Sharma denied the allegation saying the Chief Secretary was making false accusation at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Sharma said the meeting at Kejriwal's residence was on the "faulty implementation" of Aadhaar that "deprived about 2.5 lakh families of ration".

He said the Chief Secretary had refused to answer questions saying he was not answerable to MLAs or the Chief Minister but only to the Lt. Governor.

"Moreover, it is false information that the meeting and the argument was about TV ads. The entire discussion was on how large number of families were not getting ration," Sharma said in a statement.