Sealing: AAP, Congress to meet SC panel for amicable solution

New Delhi: Hitting out at thge BJP for boycotting an all-party meet on the ongoing sealing drive in the city, Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Tuesday said that the delegation will meet a Supreme Court appointed Monitoring Committee to seek a solution to the problems posed by the sealing drive. The meeting was called by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

The meeting was attended by three members of the Delhi Congress, led by DPCC chief Ajay Maken, among others. BJP did not take part in it.

Addressing a press conference after the meeting held at the chief minister’s residence, Mr Sisodia said that Mr Maken has assured them Congress MPs would raise the sealing issue in the Parliament along with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MPs.

Meanwhile, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday accused the BJP and the AAP of “collusion” on issue and asked both the parties to stop blaming each other and find an immediate solution to the problem.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal shot back, asking the Congress chief to raise the “sealing issue” in Parliament and force the BJP to take steps to stop the drive, which he said his party would support.

Hitting out at BJP, the deputy chief minister said it was unfortunate that the saffron party’s representatives did not attend the all-party meeting called to find a solution to the sealing issue, which has caused problems to the city’s traders.

He alleged that through the sealing drive, BJP wanted to pave way for foreign direct investments (FDI) in retail in the national capital.

“In today’s meeting, it was decided that the all-party delegation will meet the Monitoring Committee to find a solution to the sealing issue,” Mr Sisodia said.

Health minister Satyendar Jain, development minister Gopal Rai, AAP leader Sanjay Singh, and MLA Somnath Bharti were among the others who took part in the talks.

After the meeting, Mr Maken said it was a fruitful discussion on the issue. He said that the Delhi government had not met the Monitoring Committee since the sealing drive began, adding that the chief minister had also agreed to a meeting with the committee.

Mr Sisodia said that BJP could resolve the issue immediately if it wanted to.

Mr Maken said that everyone should join hands to stop the sealing drive and all the facts should be properly presented before the Supreme Court.

The sealing drive  started last year on the directions of the Supreme Court appointed Monitoring Committee.