PTI, NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today called off his nine-day sit-in at the LG's office after IAS officers started attending meetings with ministers, which the AAP chief termed as a "small victory".

Kejriwal's deputy Manish Sisodia said that the protest inside Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal's office "cannot" lead to an approval of doorstep delivery of ration proposal from the LG, one of the key issues behind the sit-in.

AAP supporters cheered Kejriwal as he came out of the LG's office and later he was given a welcome at his residence where he addressed party workers.

"If the LG has prompted the strike by the IAS officers, it is very unfortunate. It is a small victory. Ninety-nine per cent of the IAS officers are very good. We have done a lot in power and water sectors and we could not have done this alone," he told the party workers.

"But some officers in private told us that they were being pressurised not to work with the AAP government. We were silent for the last four months over the IAS officers' strike. But we wanted to resolve the issue. That is why we felt that the matter should be brought before the public. The battle for Delhi's statehood will continue," the chief minister said.

Sisodia, in a hurriedly-called press briefing, said that the sit-in was "not a dharna" as they were "waiting to meet the LG."

The deputy chief minister said several meetings, attended by IAS officers, were held during the day.

Six IAS officers, including Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash, attended key meeetings with AAP ministers, he said.

Sisodia claimed that some officers have told him that they had pressure from the top but now they (officers) "received the nod from the top" to attend meetings with AAP ministers.

"It was not a dharna. We were waiting to meet the lieutenant governor," the deputy chief minister said.

"Sitting inside the LG's office cannot resolve the issue of doorstep delivery of ration. I spoke to the chief minister and Gopal Rai, and they have agreed that they will come out of the LG's office," Sisodia said.

The move came after Baijal, in his first communication to Kejriwal since he began a sit-in at his office, today wrote to the chief minister, asking him to meet officers urgently to address concerns of both sides.

Baijal shot off a letter to Kejriwal in response to his Sisodia's communication in which the latter had asked for a meeting between the government and the bureaucrats to end the impasse.

Sisodia said that today's development indicates that officers are returning to meetings with ministers while asserting that he had also asked some officers why they were not attending meetings.

"I was told by some of them that there was nod from the top to avoid meetings with our ministers. Now they have been allowed to hold meetings," he said.