New Delhi, Oct 5 (UNI) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Senior leader and Delhi Cabinet Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, AAP leader Dilip Pandey, and other party members were detained on Saturday as they staged a protest outside Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena’s residence over the issue of reinstating bus marshals.
Delhi Chief Minister Atishi called an emergency cabinet meeting today, during which a resolution was passed to reinstate 10,000 bus marshals in the national capital immediately.
When the Lieutenant Governor did not respond regarding the reinstatement of bus marshals, despite the AAP government’s cabinet proposal, all the AAP MLAs and bus marshals, including Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj, sat on a dharna outside the LG’s residence.
The party, however, accused the BJP of betraying the bus marshals, claiming that the BJP and the LG are not ready to reinstate the marshals, as the LG had not signed the cabinet note.
In a social media post, Atishi said, “Women used to feel safe because of the presence of marshals in buses. They felt that if someone misbehaved with them, the bus marshals would be there to protect them. But the BJP played dirty politics and removed 10,000 bus marshals from their jobs. Today, women are unsafe, and 10,000 bus marshals are on the streets.”
She added, “Today, the Delhi cabinet decided to reinstate the bus marshals. Now we expect the BJP to approve this decision so that women in Delhi remain safe on buses.”
Atishi, accompanied by AAP and BJP MLAs, also arrived at the LG’s office to submit a note on the issue and seek his approval.
Meanwhile, Bhardwaj said, “The BJP and LG have betrayed 10,000 bus marshals. BJP MLAs said that if the cabinet note is passed, they will get the bus marshals reinstated through the LG. However, the LG has yet to sign the cabinet note.”
AAP’s national convener, Arvind Kejriwal, said, “I am proud of my ministers, who are willing to do whatever it takes to get the people’s work done.”
He further requested the LG and BJP to stop politicizing the issue and to immediately reinstate the bus marshals.
