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We Are Not On Strike: IAS Officers Hit Back At Kejriwal

Deadlock.
Anindito Mukherjee / Reuters

Even as Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal continued camping out at the waiting room of Raj Niwas, the official residence of Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, officers of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) denied they were on strike.

Manish Saxena, a member of the IAS Association, said, "I would like to inform that we are not on strike. The information that IAS officers are on strike is completely false and baseless."

Varsha Joshi, Delhi's transport commissioner said, "Let us do our work. We are feeling frightened and victimised. We are being used for completely political reasons."

Kejriwal responded to the rare press conference by the IAS officers on Twitter, urging them to stop "their boycott of elected government and return to work."

My appeal to my officers of Delhi govt .... pic.twitter.com/YQ02WgaAtd

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) June 17, 2018

IAS officers have been miffed since Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash was allegedly assaulted by AAP lawmakers at the residence of the chief minister on February 19.

The IAS officers in Delhi have demanded an apology.

Meanwhile, Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain, who had been on hunger strike for almost a week, was hospitalised after his condition deteriorated.

Education Minister Manish Sisodia is also on hunger strike.

Kejriwal has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)- led Centre of supporting the alleged strike by IAS officers, which, in turn, is stalling the work of the Aam Aadmi Parth (AAP) government.

The chief minister has also demanded that Delhi be given full statehood.

Four chief ministers, from Bengal, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, have asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene in what is being called a "constitutional crisis."

The four chief minister were not allowed to meet Kejriwal over the weekend.

The solidarity shown by four regional parties, the Trinamool Congress, the Telugu Desam Party, Janata and the Communist Party is India (Marxist) comes ahead of widespread speculation about a Grand Alliance to challenge the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

The Congress Party, however, has not extended its support to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi.

Congress chief Ajay Maken asked Kejriwal to set aside his ego and apologise to the chief secretary.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.