Delhi Chief Secretary assaulted by AAP MLAs, Kejriwal reply

Often, to smear the public image of the opposition, political parties bring up the rivals’ past mistakes or may create one for them. 

So this case on such example?

In a shocking development in the national capital, Delhi Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash was physically assaulted by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs at the residence of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal late Monday night. Reports said the top Delhi bureaucrat was manhandled by at least two AAP MLAs during a meeting on the door-to-door delivery of essential government services.

Delhi Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash on Tuesday met Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and registered a complaint against two ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs for allegedly assaulting him.

The Delhi Indian Administrative Services Association has convened a meeting at around noon on the 20^th of February to discuss the matter.

According to sources, all the MLAs were present at the meeting and the incident happened in front of CM Kejriwal.

Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash was manhandled and physically assaulted by at least two MLAs. One of them even grabbed the Chief Secretary by the collar and pushed him around. Among the two MLAs who assaulted the bureaucrat was close Kejriwal aide Amanatullah Khan.

READ ALSO: Projects not completed says AAP rebel; biggest government failures

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

AAP leader Atishi Marlena presented a different picture of what transpired at on Monday. “About 2.5 lakh families were deprived of rations last month due to faulty implementation of Aadhaar. MLAs were under tremendous pressure from the public. There was a meeting of MLAs at the CM’s residence. The Chief Secretary refused to answer questions saying that he was answerable only to the LG and not to MLAs and CM. He even used bad language against some MLAs and left without answering any questions. Moreover, it is false information that the meeting and the argument were about TV ads. The entire discussion was on how large number of families were not getting 
ration,” he said.

She added that Prakash’s allegations are ludicrous. “Obviously, he is doing it at the BJP’s behest. The BJP has stooped very low in disrupting governance in Delhi through the LG and officers. If the Chief Secretary can make such wild allegations, one can imagine the kind of obstacles that are being created in AAP government’s work by BJP through the officers,” she added.

However, the AAP’s political opponents have hit out at the ruling party and demanded that the action is taken against the errant MLAs. 

READ ALSO: BJP and AAP fight it out at Aravind Kejriwal’s residence

Delhi BJP leader and MLA OP Sharma said his advice to the Chief Secretary would be to file an official complaint. “He (Anshu Prakash) should go to the Delhi Police and file an FIR against the MLAs. This is absolutely unacceptable in a democracy,” Sharma said.

Delhi Congress Vice-President Sharmistha Mukherjee also attacked the AAP and 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, rebel 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.”