Mayors of three corporations stage sit-in outside Delhi CM's Arvind Kejriwal residence

NEW DELHI: The mayors of the three BJP-led municipal corporations on Monday staged a sit-in right outside the Delhi CM's residence, seeking a meeting with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over the issue of funds in crores of rupees which, they claimed, was due to the civic bodies from the AAP government.

The three mayors -- Jai Prakash (North Delhi), Anamika (South Delhi) and Nirmal Jain (East Delhi) -- jointly claimed that Rs 13,000 cr in total was due to the three corporations from the Delhi government.

North Delhi Mayor Jai Prakash said he and the other two mayors had reached the residence of the chief minister around 11 am seeking a meeting with Kejriwal over the issue.

"Three mayors are sitting on ground since morning, and the Delhi CM who talks about upholding Constitution, has insulted the Constitutional post of a mayor, insulted us three leaders, who are the first citizens of Delhi," North Delhi Mayor Jai Prakash alleged in the evening.

South Delhi Mayor Anamika said, Delhi minister Satyendar Jain, "we learned through media, invited us through Twitter, to meet him".

"Why can't they send a representative or Jain sahab himself could have come and all of us could have gone to meet the CM," she said.

East Delhi Mayor Nirmal Jain said, "We had come here to demand a total of Rs 13,000 cr that is due to three municipal corporations from the Delhi government. But, we have been treated like this".

The three BJP leaders sat there till about 8 am when Delhi minister Satyendar Jain came and met them, following which they broke the sit-in.

A Delhi BJP official claimed that the minister had "assured the three mayors of early release of all due municipal funds".

However, Minister Satyendar Jain said that he had called a meeting with the mayors as per the directions of the chief minister, but they did not turn up.

"We could have reached an effective solution via deliberations. But they stressed more on politicising the matter," Jain said.

The dramatic events outside the Chief Minister's House unfolded on a day senior doctors of North Corporation-run hospitals wet on a day-long casual leave en masse and resident doctors of the Hindu Rao Hospital continued their protest over pending salaries.

Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta accused the ruling AAP of "suppressing" the civic bodies out of "political malice".

A week ago, the mayors wrote letters to Kejriwal informing him about the economic condition of the municipal corporations and the salary crisis there, but no positive response came from the chief minister, Gupta claimed at a press conference.

"The chief minister himself had said in the Delhi Legislative Assembly that the Delhi government owes Rs 13,000 crore to the municipal corporations," he claimed.

The Delhi BJP president asserted that under the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, it is the responsibility of the Delhi government to provide financial assistance to all the three municipal corporations when needed.

"The Delhi government is not sensitive towards municipal employees, for them only politics matters, so due to political malice, the ruling AAP is adopting all the ways to suppress the MCDs," he alleged.

Gupta claimed that Rs 3000 crores of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation, Rs 6,500 crore of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation and Rs 4,500 crore of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation, is being stalled by the Delhi government.