Both AAP and Congress hit out at the BJP for not attending the meeting. (Express Photo/Praveen Khanna)
For once, the AAP and the Congress were on the same page as the two parties decided to meet the Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee and seek a solution to the problems resulting from the ongoing sealing drive in the capital.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had called an all-party meeting, regarding the issue at his residence on Tuesday. But while the Congress sent a delegation led by state unit chief Ajay Maken, the BJP boycotted the meeting. During the meeting, AAP and Congress decided to join forces in the Parliament through their respective MPs to speak of the problem of traders following the sealing drive, which has been going on since December last year.
Both AAP and Congress hit out at the BJP for not attending the meeting — something the two parties claimed would have been instrumental in ‘resolving’ the issue. “I wish the BJP had also participated in the interest of Delhi’s traders,” Kejriwal said on Twitter, while Maken stressed that parties needed to “collectively find a solution” to the traders’ problems. “There are some issues on which we should not do party politics,” he said.
At a press conference, Deputy CM Manish Sisodia said, “Instead of attending the meeting, the BJP is doing politics. They did not want to participate in today’s meeting. The discussion for traders was necessary, and if needed, we will again call a meeting and appeal to the BJP to attend it.”
Maken maintained that the discussion had been “fruitful”. When Sisodia was asked about suggestions that the Congress made — that the government tackle the case effectively in the SC, and approach the monitoring committee — he said that the party would “consider them”.
“In today’s meeting, we have given a presentation to the chief minister and deputy chief minister to make them understand how the ongoing sealing drive, which is being carried out in several areas, is illegal,” Maken said.
Sisodia said, “In today’s meeting, it was decided that an all-party delegation will meet the (SC-appointed) monitoring committee to find a solution to the sealing issue.”