NEW DELHI: The AAP and the BJP on Friday engaged in a heated exchange over the reinstatement of former bus marshals in Delhi.
Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj criticised the BJP for its apparent reversal on the issue, accusing the party of not taking action to restore the jobs of the marshals.
Bharadwaj pointed out that no BJP MLA attended the scheduled meeting with Lieutenant Governor (L-G) VK Saxena on October 3. “Not even a single MLA of the BJP showed up yesterday to meet the L-G. Neither the L-G gave time to meet nor the BJP MLAs appeared to save the jobs of the marshals,” Bharadwaj said.
The issue of bus marshals’ termination had already led to a tense debate during the two-day Delhi Assembly session that began on September 26. Both AAP and BJP members eventually supported a resolution calling for the reinstatement of the marshals.
The resolution also mandated that all AAP and BJP MLAs would meet the L-G on October 3 to ensure the marshals’ reinstatement, but the meeting never took place.
Bharadwaj condemned the L-G for not meeting with ministers and accused him of acting like a “dictator,” stating, “Does this kind of dictatorship happen in any other state where the governor does not have the time to meet the ministers and they are thrashed by the police when they go to meet the governor?”
He further alleged that the L-G was responsible for pushing the youth of Delhi into unemployment.
On the other hand, Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta accused AAP of politicising the marshals’ plight.
“When their leader Arvind Kejriwal was the CM, he only ordered the marshals’ termination. Now they are misleading these poor people by not reinstating them,” Gupta said.
He questioned why the current Chief Minister, Atishi, had not reinstated the marshals.
Gupta announced that BJP MLAs would meet the chief minister on October 5 to urge her to issue a cabinet note for the marshals’ reinstatement, while also calling for reservation provisions for OBCs, SCs, STs, and EWS in future appointments.
On Thursday, former bus marshals protested near the L-G’s residence, joined by AAP ministers and MLAs. Several AAP leaders, including Bharadwaj, were detained by police for protesting without permission.