New Delhi: Utter chaos unfolded inside the secretariat here on Tuesday as Delhi Environment Minister Imran Hussain was mobbed by over a hundred officials and staff, hours after Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash was allegedly manhandled at the chief minister's residence.
Officials and staff of the Delhi government raised slogans and prevented Hussain from taking the elevator to his 6th floor office at the secretariat this afternoon.
Later, police had to escort the minister to his office, sources said.
About the incident, Hussain said, "I don't know whether they were government employees, but I will identify them."
The minister later filed a complaint with the IP Estate Police Station alleging that he was assaulted. The AAP government also released a video showing Hussain being roughed up while his APA Himanshu Singh thrashed by a section of the agitating staff.
However, Deepak Bharadwaj, general secretary of the Delhi Government Employees Association, refuted the allegations and claimed that the minister arrived when sloganeering was going on but nobody manhandled him.
Hundreds of government officials gathered at the second floor of the Delhi Secretariat, demanding that FIR be lodged against AAP MLAs, who allegedly assaulted the chief secretary.
Meanwhile, senior Aam Aadmi Party leaders, including Asish Khetan and Saurabh Bhardwaj, later came together to say that the Delhi government is being threatened by government officials and are often held at ransom.
The AAP leaders made these counter allegations while addressing a press conference after Delhi Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash claimed that he has been manhandled by a few AAP MLAs at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence on Monday. Prakash raised a complaint with LG Anil Baijal while Home Minister Rajnath Singh termed the incident as “unfortunate” and sought a report.
“The people of Delhi are not ready to be held at ransom. The Delhi government is being threatened every day for not falling in line. I was heckled at the Delhi Secretariat. Can you imagine this happening to ministers of other state governments at their secretariats?” asked Khetan at the media address on Tuesday.
While Anshu Prakash has claimed that he was manhandled by AAP leaders Ajay Dutt and Prakash Jharwal, the party leaders presented a very different picture and said the chief secretary refused to answer questions on ration distribution and said that he was “answerable only to LG Anil Baijal”.
AAP leader Atishi Marlena added, "You can clearly see in the CCTV footage that our leaders are pleading with the secretary with folded hands to come back to the meeting."
“About 2.5 lakh families were deprived of rations last month due to faulty implementation of Aadhaar. MLAs were under tremendous pressure from 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."
Khetan said, “It was a riot like situation at the Secretariat. A crowd had gathered who became violent and even raised slogans, we don't know who these people were. Everything has been recorded on CCTV and things will be clear from the footage. Police were mute spectators during the ruckus while the Delhi Secretariat is one of the most secure places.”
I am deeply pained by the happenings involving the Chief Secretary of the Delhi Government. The civil servants should be allowed to work with dignity and without fear. — Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) February 20, 2018
The AAP leader further added that Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s office has turned down his request to meet Singh. He said, “The Home Minister should have listened to both sides of the story before making a decision.”
The Aam Aadmi Party leaders clarified that there were no fights at the CM's residence and Saurabh Bhardwaj said, "It is wrong to state that the secretary was manhandled as everything has been recorded in CCTVs".
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