Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia The escalating standoff between Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and the Delhi government’s Directorate of Information and Publicity (DIP) seems to have finally settled down. Sisodia will address traders in Delhi via Facebook Live on Friday between 6 pm and 7 pm. In a statement, the Delhi government said, “It will be an hour-long session in which he (Sisodia) will take questions from traders and consumers alike. This initiative is primarily aimed at about three lakh traders’ fraternity of Delhi. The GST team and the Deputy CM himself have been inundated with questions on GST and it is anticipated that the last 24 hours will be most critical, with thousands of questions pouring in.” The controversy that preceded the announcement had led an “aghast” Sisodia to issue directions to the chief secretary to “initiate proceedings for dereliction of duty” against the DIP chief or “replace him”, or deliver the tasks assigned to the department. Prime among the Deputy CM’s grouses was that the DIP had responded to the initial demand by citing their lack of “specialty” and the need for an “open tender”. A government spokesperson said the matter turned out to be a “misunderstanding”. “Had the DIP clarified with the Deputy CM’s office all of this could have been avoided. The problem was that they thought a social media campaign was needed, which wasn’t the case,” he said. For all the latest Cities News, download Indian Express App

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