Representative image showing a bus in Delhi
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: The ruling AAP and the BJP on Friday exchanged verbal volleys over the issue of reinstatement of former bus marshals.
Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj lashed out at the BJP for taking a U-turn on the reinstatement of former bus marshals in the national capital.
"Not even a single MLA of the BJP showed up yesterday to meet the LG. Neither the LG gave time to meet nor the BJP MLAs appeared to save the jobs of the marshals," Bharadwaj said.
The recent two-day Delhi Assembly session saw a heated discussion between the AAP and the opposition on the first day, September 26, over the termination of bus marshals, with both sides finally supporting a resolution to restore their jobs.
The assembly passed a resolution that both the AAP and BJP MLAs will meet Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena at 11 am on October 3 and not return till the reinstatement of the marshals is ensured.
However, no such meeting took place.
Hitting out at the LG, Bharadwaj asked, "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?"
Like a "dictator", the LG is imposing unemployment on the youth of the national capital, he alleged.
Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta said the intention of the ruling AAP is not to give relief to the marshals but to do politics with their emotions.
"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 claimed in a press conference.
Escalating his attack on the ruling party, the BJP leader said, "Now there is a new CM, Atishi. Why doesn't she reinstate these civil volunteers? Gupta said the BJP MLAs will meet the chief minister on October 5 and request her to make a cabinet note and get it approved by the cabinet.
"We will also request the CM to have reservation provisions for the OBCs, SCs, STs and EWS in the appointment of the bus marshals," he added.
Earlier on Thursday, former bus marshals staged a protest near the lieutenant governor's residence, demanding reinstatement of their jobs. The protest was joined by Delhi Ministers, including Saurabh Bharadwaj, Imran Hussain and Mukesh Ahalawat, along with other MLAs of the party. The police detained some protestors along with Bharadwaj and other AAP leaders, citing that they had not taken permission for the protest.