New Delhi:Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal called off his sit-in protest and returned to work on Thursday, to be attended by senior civil servants who too ended their strike.
The chief minister, along with deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and cabinet ministers Gopal Rai and Satyendar Jain, held a sit-in at the office of Delhi lieutenant governor (L-G) Anil Baijal for nine days, demanding his intervention to break a strike by civil servants of the Indian Administrative Service.
Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) claimed that the officers had boycotted meetings with Delhi ministers since an alleged assault on the state chief secretary.
The protest ended after the officials started attending meetings with AAP ministers. Baijal too asked Kejriwal to attend meetings with officers in the Delhi secretariat to address concerns of both the sides.
Kejriwal, who left for a 10-day naturopathy treatment in Bengaluru on Thursday, met officials from the Delhi Jal Board and power utilities to review the progress of ongoing projects. He also sought daily reports on the water and power status in the national capital—key issues which were raised by the opposition during the nine-day protest.
The AAP is also expected to hold a state convention on 1 July at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium to scale up its longstanding demand for full statehood for Delhi.
“We request you to come out in large numbers to take this movement for full statehood forward,” said cabinet minister Rai on Twitter on Thursday.
Being a special state, matters related to land, and law and order in Delhi come under the central home ministry.