New Delhi: The AAP government on Saturday accused Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung of adopting a casual approach in dealing with the health crisis in the city, a day after he ordered deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia to cut short his Finland visit and return immediately in the wake of sudden spurt in dengue and chikungunya cases.
Following Jung’s directive on Friday, health minister Satyendar Jain and water minister Kapil Mishra went to meet the L-G at his office on Saturday to discuss the health crisis but they could not meet him as he was not in his office.
“We have been told that the L-G is on leave. How can he be on leave when Delhi is facing a health crisis. We have come to meet him following his fax to Manish Sisodia asking him to return to Delhi from Finland immediately,” Mishra said, triggering a fresh spat between the two sides.
Jain also referred to Jung’s ten-day-long travel to the US earlier this month when the city was witnessing rising cases of dengue and chikungunya and wondered why he did not cut short his visit “even by one hour”. Jung had returned to Delhi from the US earlier this week.
The L-G’s office retorted that it was operational on all seven days of the week and the ministers did not seek prior appointment. The L-G’s office accused the AAP government of politicising the issue when the city was grappling with the health crisis.
The ministers after waiting to meet the L-G for around 20 minutes said no appointment was sought since Jung had sent an “urgent” fax to the deputy chief minister on Friday and that they thought Jung must have something important to discuss.
“The L-G has sent an urgent fax to deputy chief minister Sisodia so we thought there may be some emergency and we both came to meet him but he is not in the office.
“We were told that it’s off on Saturday and he does not sit in the office. We called him but he is also not at his home. It appears he is not in a mood to work on Saturday,” Mishra said.
Mishra has also written a letter to Jung asking why Sisodia has been asked to cut short his trip to Finland saying the L-G could have discussed the health issue with him and Jain. Notwithstanding L-G’s order, Sisodia is coming back to Delhi on Sunday as scheduled.
