'Kejriwal's media team' records cabinet meeting, top official demands footage

A "confidential" cabinet meeting of the Delhi government on Tuesday was recorded on camera by "Kejriwal's media team", a senior government official said and added that he has written to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for the footage.

An AAP government spokesperson, however, denied the claim of the official -- Principal Secretary (Home) Manoj Parida. It was the "Delhi government" that did the recording, he told IANS.

He confirmed that they have indeed received Parida's letter and would be "happy to hand over the footage".

But the Principal Secretary insisted that the "meeting was not recorded by government officials" and added that they were not informed about it in advance.

"He (Kejriwal) has his own media team...they must have done it," Parida told IANS.

The Principal Secretary, who described cabinet meetings as a "confidential affair", said that he had also talked to the Chief Secretary and quoted him in the letter asking for the footage.

The officer said that he was against recording of cabinet meetings as it would hamper "free expression of ideas".

As per norms, an official said, it is only the outcome of cabinet meetings that are made public and not the discussions and the entire proceedings.

"(Kejriwal) should have consulted us for putting up the camera. We would see in future what can be done," he added.

The recording of the cabinet meeting comes after Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash alleged that he was beaten up by AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan and another AAP legislator in the presence of Kejriwal at the CM's residence on February 19 night, where he had been called for a meeting.

The spokesperson said that Tuesday's meeting was recorded to allay the apprehensions of the Chief Secretary.

The Principal Secretary said that just before the cabinet meeting, he had raised the issue of the meeting being recorded with the Chief Minister, but Kejriwal said that it was being done so that "no one complains later".

Parida said the camera was switched on and left inside the room 10 minutes before the meeting started.

"Immediately after the meeting, I wrote a letter to the CM saying that the General Administration Department (GAD) would like to keep the footage of the recording," Parida said. "But they haven't handed over the footage to us yet."

--IANS

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