Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday claimed his party would launch a mass public outreach campaign on statehood for Delhi by Sunday if Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not intervene to stop the four-month-long 'unofficial' strike by IAS officers in the Delhi government.
Kejriwal talked of the planned outreach campaign in a video released on Friday as the 'sit-in' protest by him, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and ministers Gopal Rai and Satyendar Jain at the residence of Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal entered the fifth day. The AAP alleged the Central government would try to forcibly shift Sisodia and Jain, who are on indefinite hunger strike. The party claimed ambulances have been deployed to the LG house.
LG house से @ArvindKejriwal का संदेश, दिल्लीवालों के नाम।
— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) June 15, 2018
देखिए और शेयर कीजिये 👇 pic.twitter.com/0G8UnO5SaW
In the video, Kejriwal appealed to Modi to end the strike. Kejriwal announced AAP activists would go to the prime minister's residence to submit a petition over the crisis.
Kejriwal said if the Centre did not act, “After Sunday, our workers will reach out to 10 lakh households in the city and collect signatures on a letter on this obstruction to Delhi government work and on the issue of full statehood to Delhi. These 10 lakh families will then agitate for full statehood and against this strike of IAS officers." Other AAP members have warned of protests in front of the Prime Minister's Office by Sunday if the party's demands were not met.
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu joined the list of key opposition figures who have announced support for the AAP stir. Naidu posted a tweet expressing solidarity with the “government of Delhi elected by the people.” Earlier, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav had announced support for Kejriwal's demands or condemned the Centre's actions.
Interestingly, the Congress remains critical of both the AAP and BJP. Former Congress chief minister Sheila Dixit addressed a press conference on Friday where she criticised the AAP for staging protests despite being in government.
(With PTI inputs)