New Delhi: Over 200 officials in Delhi are on mass leave on Thursday, December 31 to protest against the suspension of two colleagues, who allegedly refused to sign some files.

The suspension had brought the AAP government in Delhi and the Centre at loggerheads again after the Union Home Minister billed off the move of the Delhi Government to be ‘null and void’.

The mudslinging has begun as in retaliation to this, the AAP had called the mass leave by officers as ‘BJP fueled conspiracy’.

“The BJP is tweeting and manipulating officers, is this not a conspiracy against the Delhi government?” questioned Delhi minister Satyendra Jain, adding that the “strike” would be declared void.

The officials who were suspended are Yashpal Garg, special secretary (Prosecution), and Subhash Chandra, special secretary (Prisons). It is said that they refused to sign files related to the AAP government’s decision to hike the Public Prosecutor’s salary. The officers had insisted that the files must be cleared by the Lieutenant-Governor, who represents the Centre in Delhi.

After the suspension, around 200 more officers of the same cadre are on leave today. Around 70 Indian Administrative Service or IAS officers, who work in different departments of the national capital, have also threatened to work half-day.