Delhi Chief Secretary alleges physical assault at CM Kejriwal’s residence, AAP denies allegations

Delhi Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash has alleged physical assault by Aam Aadmi Party MLAs at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence on Monday night.

The top bureaucrat of Delhi was allegedly manhandled by at least two AAP MLAs while a meeting on the door-to-door delivery of essential government services was in progress.

The Delhi Indian Administrative Services Association has called for a meeting on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the matter. A decision to lodge an FIR in the case is reportedly on the table.

However, the CM office has denied any such assault and said the incident never took place. A statement from Kejriwal’s office said, “Delhi CM office strongly denies allegations by the Chief Secretary. There was no incident of assault or attempted assault by any AAP MLAs.”

BJP’s Vijender Gupta took to Twitter and shared the event, reporting the whole incident as “ill-treatment”. He also conveyed that he will be meeting the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi in the afternoon on Tuesday and discuss the further course of action.

CM @ArvindKejriwal in his dictatorial style called Chief Secretary at 12 midnight & berated him in front of his MLAs. Drunk on power CM was concerned about why not more funds were dispersed for advertisements. Such is the state of affairs under AAP. @HMOIndia @LtGovDelhi

— Vijender Gupta (@Gupta_vijender) February 20, 2018

Will be meeting Hon'ble @LtGovDelhi at 12:35pm to apprise him of the ill treatment meted out to the Chief Secretary at the hands of AAP goons on the behest of CM @ArvindKejriwal. The same had happened with BJP delegation when it went to meet the CM at his residence.

— Vijender Gupta (@Gupta_vijender) February 20, 2018

He also said that a total of nine AAP MLAs were present when the Chief Secretary was assaulted in front of CM Kejriwal.

Delhi Police, however, said it has not received any formal complaint about the incident.

Former AAP leader, Mayank Gandhi, said, “Considering the confrontational attitude taken up by both sides and the vicious atmosphere that this created, this was a natural consequence.”

Sharmistha Mukherjee, Delhi Congress Vice-President, said, “In a democracy, we expect that all disputes will be solved by dialogue. Violence against anyone, including a senior bureaucrat, is not the way to resolve anything. There should be a thorough probe into this and if the Chief Secretary’s complaint is found to be true, the MLAs should receive tough punishment.”

Kapil Mishra, AAP MLA and former minister in the Kejriwal cabinet, said, “This has never happened in the history of India. As an MLA, I am ashamed that this incident has taken place.”

सुना है - रात 12 बजे CM ने दिल्ली के मुख्य सचिव को अपने घर बुलाया, कुछ विधायक वहां पहले से मौजूद थे।

CM ने ख़ुद चीफ सेक्रेटरी के साथ बदसलूकी की, फिर MLA अमानतुल्लाह ने हाथापाई की।

देश मे ये पहली बार हुआ हैं। विधायक द्वारा CM के कहने पर मुख्य सचिव पर हमला।

— Kapil Mishra (@KapilMishra_IND) February 20, 2018

DN Singh, Delhi Administrative Subordinate Services President said, "We are going on a strike with immediate effect. We are with our Chief Secretary. Until those at fault are not arrested we will not get back to work. We have urged LG to take legal action against those responsible. This is like a constitutional crisis, never seen such a thing happen in the past many years."

Delhi Congress President Ajay Maken took to Twitter to express his concern and said that the Delhi CM should apologise for the incident which happened in front of him, blaming the Aam Aadmi Party does not know governance.

Kejriwal should apologise for this hooliganism which took place before him-

AAP Govt is unable to deliver-Beating of Chief Secretary by MLAs in front of CM is another low & is aimed to divert attention from Govt failures!

AAP does not know Governance and has failed miserably😡

— Ajay Maken (@ajaymaken) February 20, 2018

Responding to the allegations by the Chief Secretary, the Aam Aadmi Party shared a post on its Twitter handle and said that the Chieff Secretary refused to answer questions, and even used bad language against some MLAs.

AAP's response to false allegations by Chief Secretary

👇🏼👇🏼 pic.twitter.com/dl3M2MrXW6

— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) February 20, 2018

In a new, Aam Aadmi Party's Ashish Khetan call up the Police Control Room (PCR) and alleges that he was manhandled at the Delhi Secretariat on Tuesday. The Delhi Police has reached the spot.

AAP's Ashish Khaitan called PCR (Police Control Room), alleges he was manhandled at Delhi Secretariat. Police has reached the spot.

— ANI (@ANI) February 20, 2018