A day after Delhi Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Anil Baijal rejected the Delhi Government’s directive to reopen hotels and permit weekly markets in Delhi under ‘Unlock 3, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has written to Home Minister Amit Shah seeking immediate directions to be issued to L-G to overturn his decision on hotels and weekly bazaars, which is “against” Centre's unlock guidelines.

Sisodia in his letter said that the situation in Delhi is under control and permission should be granted to open weekly markets considering the plight of five lakh families.

He also cited examples of Uttar Pradesh and Karnatka, saying that hotels and weekly markets in these states are open even after cases of Coronavirus are up.

Citing examples of neighbouring Delhi, health minister Satyendra Jain said that hotels in places bordering Delhi are open. “Hotels are open in areas bordering Delhi such as Noida, Ghaziabad and Haryana. Covid-19 cases in the national Capital are decreasing while it is increasing in neighbouring states. It would have been better if Lieutenant Governor would have given the permission,” he said.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government said that it would have been better if permission was granted since cases are decreasing in the city.

Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Friday rejected the AAP Government’s decision to allow hotels and weekly markets under Unlock 3.

"The matter was discussed with the Hon'ble Chief Minister and it was agreed that while there has been improvement, the pandemic situation in the capital continues to be fragile and the threat is still far from over. Therefore a cautious and conservative approach is required," a statement issued by the LG office had said.

Reacting to the LG's move, the Aam Aadmi Party said the Centre must stop interfering in decisions of the Delhi government and stop undermining its authority.

AAP national spokesperson Raghav Chadha had criticised the BJP-led Central government's decision of not allowing the hotels and weekly markets to reopen in Delhi, saying that the Centre should immediately roll back this decision.

Chadha said, "The Centre derives sadistic pleasure by inflicting pain and misery on the people of Delhi and undermining the democratically elected government of Delhi."

"In the last few days, we have seen on several occasions that the Centre interfered in decisions of the Delhi government," he said.

Raghav had said that in the last few months, we have repeatedly noticed that the BJP government is interfering continuously on the works of the Delhi government. “The central government first rejected the home isolation module of the Delhi government and also rejected the lawyer panel of the AAP government for representing the Delhi riot cases. Lastly, today they have stopped the decision of reopening the hotels and weekly markets,” he said.

Chadha alleged the BJP to interfere in the works of the AAP government repeatedly. “It seems like the BJP government is trying to take revenge on the citizens of Delhi. On 8 June 2020 the BJP led Central government issued an order for all the states across India which clearly noted that the weekly markets and the hotels of the states should reopen,” he said.

In Delhi, the Delhi government took the decision to not open the hotels and the weekly markets at that point of time because the situation was not favourable but when today the Delhi government has decided to open the hotels and weekly markets the central government has stopped it," he said.