Arvind Kejriwal cancels meeting with officials due to health concerns

Arvind Kejriwal, who ended his nine-day sit-in at the Lieutenant Governor’s residence Raj Niwas yesterday, has put off all his meetings for today, allegedly because of his poor health.

Mr Kejriwal is diabetic. Sources close to the Delhi Chief Minister said that because of his self-imposed confinement, he skipped his morning and evening walks and also had irregular meals, because of which his blood sugar has gone up. “He has a strict routine of an hour’s walk twice a day and balanced diet, which went for a toss because of the dharna (sit-in), so his health worsened,” claimed the sources.

Cancelling all his appointments for today means that a meeting with the IAS officers, which was part of a truce following which the officers had agreed to attend meetings called by Mr Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government will have to be rescheduled.

Mr Kejriwal and three of his ministers went to the Lieutenant Governor’s office-residence last Monday and refused to come out until he heard them out and stepped in to solve their problems – one, what they called a “strike” by officers since February, and the other, Mr Baijal not approving a doorstep delivery scheme.

AAP claimed that the officers had not been neglecting their work since Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash alleged that he was manhandled and abused during a meeting called at Mr Kejriwal’s house on February 19. On Tuesday evening, Mr Kejriwal said IAS officers had agreed to attend meetings and termed it as his “victory”.

A group of Delhi government employees later wrote an open letter to the Delhi CM asking for a meeting in order to discuss their safety.

“We now look forward to meeting you to discuss how to make our working environment safe and secure, not only in relation to physical assaults but also for verbal assaults, threats, intimidation and attack on dignity and respect of officers/officials including lady officers/officials,” the officers wrote.