The ruling Aam Aadmi Party and BJP on Saturday sparred over the issue of reinstatement of bus marshals, with both parties accusing each other of doing political drama. AAP leaders also staged a protest outside the Lieutenant Governor's office and some of its leaders were detained.
Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Atishi met BJP MLAs at the Delhi Secretariat and convinced them to accompany her to the Lt Governor's office to submit a note on the issue of reinstatement of bus marshals and get his approval on it. The note was earlier passed in a meeting of the Delhi Cabinet.
However, AAP leaders claimed that the BJP MLAs, led by Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta, were unwilling to accompany them to the Lt Governor's office along with a delegation of bus marshals.
AAP shared videos on social media, showing party leader Saurabh Bharadwaj falling on Gupta's feet to convince him to accompany them.
"It was decided that we will go to the Lt Governor's office with Vijender Gupta to submit the cabinet note. Now Gupta jit doesn't want to sit in his own car. He is trying to run away," Saurabh Bharadwaj says in the video, following which he falls on Gupta's feet.
The video also shows Chief Minister Atishi sitting in Gupta's car as the BJP leader hesitates to sit inside.
Another video shows Gupta's car stopped on the way as Bharadwaj accuses the BJP leader of trying to take a "U-turn".
The AAP staged a dharna outside the Lt Governor's office, claiming that they and the delegation of bus marshals were not allowed inside.
"All the civil defence volunteers (bus marshals) were present in the morning meeting at Delhi Secretariat. They saw what happened there. After this, when these bus marshals were sent to L-G office with Chief Minister Atishi in BJP MLA Vijender Gupta's car, but L-G sent all the bus marshals out of his house," said Saurabh Bharadwaj, who was also detained by the police along with other AAP workers.
"This is a betrayal against bus marshals. The things that were to be done by the Cabinet -- to regularise bus marshals and civil defence volunteers -- have been done. Now, the BJP has to regularise them and allot them joining letters," said Atishi.
The BJP, on the other hand, accused the AAP leaders of doing drama. "All these bus marshals were removed by Arvind Kejriwal and his letter is in the public domain. Now when the elections are about to come, the leaders of Aam Aadmi Party are remembering the bus marshals. When these people were busy doing political drama, the Honorable Lieutenant Governor was meeting the delegation of bus marshals and he also assured to take serious action on this matter," said Delhi BJP chief Virendraa Sachdeva.
The Delhi BJP also shared pictures of the Lieutenant Governor meeting a delegation of bus marshals inside his office, with the party claiming credit for facilitating the meeting.
Over 10,000 civil defence volunteers deployed as marshals in public transport buses were removed last year after an objection was raised by directorate of civil defence that they are meant for disaster management duties.
