Kejriwal's sit-in: Sisodia launches hunger strike

As the sit-in protest by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his three Cabinet colleagues at the Lt. Governor's office here entered its second day on Wednesday, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia launched an indefinite hunger strike.

Kejriwal, Sisodia, Jain and Gopal Rai has been camping in the Raj Niwas, the official accommodation-cum-office of Lt. Governor Anil Baijal, since Monday evening. Jain started a hunger strike on Tuesday evening

The Delhi Chief Minister said he and his colleagues would not leave Baijal's office until their demands were met.

The demands include a direction to IAS officers working in the Delhi administration to end their "strike", action against officers who have struck work for "four months" and approval to his government's proposal for doorstep delivery of ration to the poor.

On Wednesday morning, Kejriwal tweeted that his "struggle" was on.

"Good Morning to all Delhites. The struggle is on to remove all the hurdles before the developmental works of Delhi. Our willpower is our strength," he said.

Sisodia in a tweet said it was their third day in the LG's office and "he did not have time to order the IAS officers to end their strike... This shows that the strike is being held on LG's order".

"To ensure the rights of the Delhites and to re-start their work, I am going on an indefinite hunger strike. Our willpower and the trust of people is our strength," Sisodia tweeted.

All the four ministers were active on social media with tweets and re-tweets.

All MLAs and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers will gather at the Chief Minister's residence at 4 p.m on Wednesday.

The AAP leaders also exhorted the common people through video messages to join the protest march.

The police have already beefed up security outside Raj Niwas, with paramilitary and police personnel deployed in a 2 km radius of the LG's office.

--IANS

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