JOIN USSisodia, journos off to a bad start
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday called off his briefing after an argument with mediapersons who confronted him on the curbs on entry of scribes into the Delhi Secretariat building.
The BJP showed solidarity with the scribes and called the ban as “murder of democracy”.
The briefing was planned to share details about the developments in the first cabinet meeting held during the day.
Sisodia, accompanied by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s media advisor Nagendra Sharma, reached the packed media centre on the ground floor around 5 pm to brief the media.
Photographers of various media organisations surrounded the dais on which Sisodia and Sharma took their seats. “We have been waiting since morning for the first group photo of the new cabinet that was promised by you,” said a lensman.
Another reporter asked Sisodia why there was a restriction on the entry of mediapersons, who have a government-issued identity card, into the secretariat building.
Sisodia seemed in no mood to get dragged into an argument and said in the mike: “Should we hold the press conference or not.”
As the cameramen showed no signs of settling down or leaving the dais, Sisodia and Sharma got up and walked out of the media room without addressing the reporters.
A security guard manning the main gate for entering the Secretariat building confirmed that they had instructions not to let any mediaperson in.
“Till the afternoon, the Delhi government accredited journalists were being allowed to enter the building up to the ground floor canteen but not the main building but now there is blanket ban on mediapersons’ entry,” he said.
While the mediapersons complained about the access curbs imposed by the government, aggrieved people who wanted their problem addressed by the new government continued to walk up to the CM’s Office Help Desk on the ground floor of the building with their applications.
A volunteer wearing the AAP’s cap could be seen moving around the cell. An employee manning the desk said over 70 applications of people with problems were received by the cell during his shift.
Meanwhile, BJP legislator from Rohini, Vijender Gupta, said in a statement that the ban on media’s entry into the secretariat was shocking.
Gupta, a former Delhi BJP president, said the restriction “amounts to murder of democracy and would be resisted tooth and nail by the Opposition”.
He said such an order is being passed to suppress the voice of the Opposition and stop the truth from coming out.