Row over assault of chief secy intensifies

New Delhi: The row over the alleged attack on chief secretary Anshu Prakash by AAP MLAs on Monday intensified with government employees demanding action “as per law” against chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia in the case, even as the AAP dispensation mulled live streaming of all meetings of its ministers.

The officers, including those from IAS and Danics, said they will continue to communicate with ministers only in writing until Mr Kejriwal and Mr Sisodia give a public apology over the alleged incident at the chief minister’s residence on the intervening night of February 19 and 20.

In a resolution, the Joint Forum of Delhi government employees also rejected mediation by minister Rajender Pal Gautam, the “peacemaker” appointed by the AAP government, who said the attitude of officers “is not correct” and “they should show a positive response to government efforts to end the current crisis”.

Mr Prakash was allegedly assaulted by AAP MLAs during a meeting at chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence on the intervening night of February 19-20.

A senior government official said that as per a plan, a live feed of meetings with audio output will be available on a website.

If the plan is passed, funds will be allocated for it in the upcoming budget, he said.

The development came on the day when a joint forum of Delhi government employees appealed to lieutenant-governor Anil Baijal and police commissioner Amulya Patnaik to take action against chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisoida in the case of alleged assault on the chief secretary.

“Through live streaming of official meetings, people will be able to know who spoke what in the meeting, be it the elected representative or officials,” the official said. There is also a plan to put all file movement and noting online, he said.

“Plan is also to put all file movement and file notings online for people to see who was working on a file for how long, who cleared it and who wrote what on a particular file, be it the elected government or officers,” the official said.

With no end to the stalemate in sight, Gautam, who is the social welfare minister, said that trust building is not the work of political executive only.

“Government is taking an initiative to end this problem and now the (agitating) officers should come forward in a bid to build trust and have a dialogue so that governance does not affect,” he told reporters here, while asserting that there is also a plan to put all file movement and notings online.

However, the employees forum appealed to lieutenant-governor Anil Baijal and police commissioner Amulya Patnaik to take action against Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia in the chief secretary assault case.

Its resolution claimed that instead of apologising and admitting their mistake, the chief minister and the deputy chief minister are in a “denial mode” which shows that they were a “part of the conspiracy”.

“This shows that they were a part of the conspiracy and since they are specifically identified in the FIR, we appeal to L-G and the commissioner of police to take action as per law against the chief minister and dy CM,” the resolution said.