MLAs camp at L-G house for over six hours

New Delhi: High drama ensued at lieutenant-governor Anil Baijal’s office on Wednesday as 45 AAP MLAs camped there until late evening insisting he clear the mohalla clinics file — an act the latter termed as “laying siege” to the office of a “constitutional functionary”.

The development marks a fresh confrontation between the AAP dispensation and the L-G’s office which have frequently been at loggerheads. It also sparked a blame game, with the office claiming that no proposal or file about Mohalla clinics is pending with it.

The chief minister’s office in turn said the file seeking approval was sent to the L-G’s office, which marked it to the vigilance department on the basis of “frivolous complaints”, filed by “malicious” political rivals, that do not point to any specific charge.

In a statement, the L-G’s office said an appointment for a meeting was given to AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj and four other legislators. However, a delegation of nearly 45 party MLAs assembled in front of Raj Niwas and demanded to meet the L-G. 

“The L-G, despite his scheduled court hearings at 3 pm, agreed to meet the entire delegation in his Conference Hall even though it was already past 2.50 pm,” his office said.

It also stated that Mr Baijal explained to the MLAs the current status of the proposal, adding that the behaviour of the legislators became increasingly “rude and discourteous” and their conduct was “unbecoming” of elected representatives.

“Despite being given a chronological status of the entire proposal and repeatedly being told by the L-G that the proposal has been returned to the chief minister on July 5 2017 with a request to address the complaints, the MLAs continued to behave in a belligerent manner without any interest in responding to facts and logic,” it said.

The AAP MLAs alleged that Mr Baijal was sitting over the files regarding mohalla clinics, which was hindering the process of opening more such clinics in their constituencies. There are over 160 mohalla clinics in Delhi.

The six-and-a-half hour-long impasse ended after the legislators got an assurance that Mr Baijal would hold a meeting with chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and the government officials dealing with the relevant files, said Mr Bharadwaj. The L-G also spoke to Mr Kejriwal with a view to resolve the matter and explained that in a democratic government decisions are taken on the basis of facts as per law. Reacting to the development, Kejriwal said that there should be no politics over mohalla clinics.

“There shud be no politics wid Moh Clinics. It involves health of 2 cr Delhiites. LG must clear file immediately now. Public suffering due 2 delays. LG shud call all officers n sort it out. “I am prepared to come wid my ministers 2 Raj niwas, if LG wants. Let L-G sort out all objections across the table rather than files moving up n down. My sincere request,” he tweeted.