Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh on Wednesday alleged that the Tihar Jail administration had cancelled Finance Minister Atishi’s meeting with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at the last moment as part of a “conspiracy” under which the CM might also be prevented from meeting his family.
A senior prison official denied the charge, saying the Minister has been given time to meet the CM on April 29.
However, Mr. Singh told reporters that he will write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena about how the CM is being treated like a “terrorist”.
“Even British rule did not see this kind of behaviour,” he said, adding that Ms. Atishi had applied for the meeting on Tuesday following all rules.
The Rajya Sabha member said an inmate can write down the names of 10 people, including his family members, whom he is allowed to meet.
“If any prisoner wants to meet any of them, he cannot be stopped,” said the senior AAP leader.
In response, the jail official said, “Each prisoner is allowed two meetings a week. Earlier, Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj had sent an application for the second meeting of the week, hence, he was given the time. Ms. Atishi submitted the application late. Therefore, she was given a slot on April 29 to meet the CM,” he said.
‘Gahlot to meet CM’
The official said the jail superintendent decides the date and time and that records are maintained for the same. Jail sources said Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot’s name will also be added to the list of visitors and that he will meet Mr. Kejriwal soon.
Meanwhile, Mr. Bharadwaj met the Chief Minister for 30 minutes at Tihar Jail.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, he said, “Kejriwal was sitting on the other side of a glass wall that separated us. I was able to talk to him through a connecting phone line. We had a good conversation.”
‘Blessings of people’
“The only thing that the Chief Minister stressed was that Delhi residents should not worry about him. He is very strong and will continue his fight with the blessings of the people of Delhi,” Mr. Bharadwaj added.
His meeting with the Chief Minister came days after AAP’s national general secretary (organisation) Sandeep Pathak said that two Delhi Ministers will meet the CM every week as Mr. Kejriwal runs the Delhi government from jail.