Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that while there was a need to change the Delhi Master Plan 2021 and solve other legal issues, the Supreme Court had stayed the proposal to amend the Plan. (File Photo) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that while there was a need to change the Delhi Master Plan 2021 and solve other legal issues, the Supreme Court had stayed the proposal to amend the Plan. (File Photo)

Urging parties across the political spectrum to “unite and pressure the Centre” to bring an “ordinance” to stop the ongoing sealing drive in Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that he will launch a hunger strike if the issue is not resolved by March 31.

“If the sealing problem is not solved before March 31, then I will sit on a hunger strike. We will put pressure on the central government,” the CM said. Kejriwal was speaking at Amar Colony market, where he met shopkeepers protesting against the sealing drive at the market.

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) on Thursday sealed over 450 shops at south Delhi’s Amar Colony market, with several traders alleging that the action was taken without giving any valid reasons, and that the police lathi charge left several traders injured.

Earlier on Friday, while the AAP blamed the BJP over the ongoing sealing drive, Kejriwal maintained that the issue wasn’t limited to one party.

“Isme saare pis rahe hai (everyone is in affected) — traders associated with BJP, Congress as well as AAP. This is not a situation where those coming to seal are saying: ‘let’s leave the people of these parties alone’. This is not an issue of one party…today if MPs of the three parties get together and shut (the proceedings) of the Parliament for two days, then I think the sealing drive will end in 24 hours,” he said.

The CM said that while there was a need to change the Delhi Master Plan 2021 and solve other legal issues, the Supreme Court had stayed the proposal to amend the Plan. “Now the entire problem has only one solution: bring an ordinance for this. If an ordinance is brought, the markets of Delhi will be saved. If an ordinance comes, then those shops which have been sealed can also be de-sealed. All of us, from different parties, have to pressure our respective parties to convince the Centre to bring an ordinance,” he said.

Kejriwal added, “I will write to the Prime Minister tomorrow and request him to take action on the issue, next week I will go meet UD minister Hardeep Singh Puri… In Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha combined, we have seven parliamentarians and they raised the issue before, they will speak to different parties to try and raise this issue again.”

The CM said that the issue would also be raised in the upcoming Assembly session.

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