Ahmedabad: Gujarat minister Harsh Sanghavi on Thursday accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its chief Arvind Kejriwal of trying to scuttle the BJP government's efforts to give a pay hike to state police personnel, who have been demanding for a long time. Sanghavi's statement came a day after Kejriwal, during his Gujarat visit, promised to resolve this issue by implementing the "best pay scale" for Gujarat policemen if AAP is voted to power after the next Assembly polls due by the end of this year.
Talking to reporters in Surat on this issue, Sanghavi gave an indication that the state government led by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel would announce the grade pay or salary hike for police personnel in the next couple of days.
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Without naming AAP or Kejriwal, he said, "I condemn this act of misleading policemen and their families, especially when the chief minister has already chaired several meetings with various departments over this issue. And when the entire issue is going towards a pleasant end, efforts are being made (by AAP) to derail that process and stall the announcement of a pay hike which would benefit thousands of families."
"Everyone knows that the issue will be resolved in the coming days. So why are some people trying to stall that announcement for their political motives? We do not want to do any politics over this issue. But some people are trying to stop us from making an important decision because of their dirty politics," he alleged.
Claiming that the Rs 20,000 entry-level salary of police personnel in Gujarat was the lowest in the country, Kejriwal had on Wednesday promised to resolve the grade pay issue and implement "the best pay scale" for them if AAP comes to power after the polls.
AAP leader Isudan Gadhvi thanked Kejriwal for raising the issue and "forcing" the BJP government to announce despite Thursday being a public holiday (on account of Raksha Bandhan).
"I am happy to know that the Gujarat government has agreed to increase the grade pay and salaries of policemen, who have been agitating for it for some time. I am thankful for Kejriwal for making a statement on this issue, which forced Sanghavi to make this announcement on a holiday," he said. The AAP believes in giving justice to those who were deprived of their rights, Gadhvi added in his statement.
