All-party meet at Kejriwal's residence to discuss sealing drive in Delhi

New Delhi: An all-party meeting to discuss the sealing drive in the capital will take place at Arvind Kejriwal's residence on Tuesday. This after the Delhi Chief Minister sent out invites to members of all parties - including Congress'Ajay Maken and BJP's Manoj Tiwari.

The sealing of shops in the city has led to a political war of words even as traders claim mounting loses and threaten to strike. While Kejriwal previously assured them of all help and even wrote to PM Narendra Modi, he has now called for an all-party meeting in a letter which read that 'there is a need for us to rise above party lines to find a solution to the sealing issue.' He has also requested that only three members of each party attend the meeting 'so that we can come to a fruitful solution.'

In his letter to Maken specifically, Kejriwal wrote that since the Congress leader has been a minister for Urban Development, he is sure of getting good and practical suggestions on the issue from him. “I assure you from my side that my party and government will do whatever is needed to put an end to sealing and to reopen shops that have already been sealed,” wrote the Delhi Chief Minister.

Kejriwal has previously lashed out at the Centre for not doing justice to the shopkeepers, claiming that they are facing the brunt of the Centre's faults. "The reason behind sealing is anomalies in the law. It is the responsibility of the Central government to remove these anomalies. However, the government has not done anything and the shopkeepers are paying the price for it," the Chief Minister wrote in a strongly-worded letter to the PM.

He appealed to the PM asking for a law to be made against the sealing drive so that the shopkeepers do not face any more harm. "There is only one solution now. A bill has to be brought in Parliament to remove anomalies in the law and save traders from unemployment," he said.