Kejriwal deferred hunger strike to gain sympathy of traders: CAIT

An industry body today alleged that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's decision to postpone his hunger strike over sealing drive in the city was a "politically motivated" move aimed at "gaining sympathy" of traders.

Kejriwal had announced earlier last month that he would sit on fast if the ongoing drive was not stopped by March 31. On Friday, though the AAP's Delhi unit said he has deferred the hunger strike.

Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary General of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) today sent a letter to Kejriwal, claiming the postponement has resulted into "great anguish and resentment" among the traders of Delhi.

"The manner and nature in which the hunger strike was postponed gives us a reason to believe that such a declaration was more politically motivated, in order to gain sympathy of traders, instead of seriously dealing with the issue concerning the livelihood of lakhs of traders and their employees in Delhi," he was quoted as saying in a CAIT statement.

A massive sealing drive was undertaken in south Delhi's Amar Colony market where as many as 350 shops in Old Double Storey Market were sealed in a day.

Addressing traders in Amar Colony on March 9, Kejriwal had announced that he would go on a hunger strike if the issue of the ongoing sealing drive against commercial establishments in Delhi was not resolved by the end of that month.

Saurabh Bharadwaj, the chief spokesperson of AAP's Delhi unit, on March 30 had said that the chief minister took the decision to defer his hunger strike after he was appealed by several trader associations and lawyers that his fast could "annoy" the court, which could adversely impact the outcome.

According to the Aam Aadmi Party, the Supreme Court is going to hear the sealing matter from April 2 on a day-to-day basis and the AAP government has appointed two advocates in the case.

The apex court would deal with the issue of validity of the Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act, 2006 and subsequent legislations that protect unauthorised construction from being sealed in the national capital.

The sealing drive, which started in December last year, is being conducted in several parts of Delhi by civic bodies at the instance of a Supreme Court-appointed Monitoring Committee.