The Bhagwant Mann government may have secured a brief respite, but its standoff with employees is far from over. Government employees on Wednesday called off their four-day pen-down strike midway, ending the agitation on its second day after the state government assured them that no punitive action would be taken against those who participated in the August 27 mass casual-leave protest.Kejriwal re-elected AAP ChiefArvind Kejriwal was on Wednesday unanimously re-elected as AAP’s national convener at a party meetA total of 330 party members participated in the virtual National Council meetingPankaj Gupta has been elected national secretary, while ND Gupta will continue as treasurer of the partyThe party also constituted a new 23-member national executive at the meetingThe truce, however, is limited to the immediate controversy over showcause notices issued to employees for going on mass leave. Employee unions have made it clear that their core demands, including payment of pending dearness allowance (DA) arrears, restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) and withdrawal of two government letters relating to pay structure and service conditions, remain unresolved.The employees will, therefore, go ahead with their next programme of gheraoing ministers on September 12 and 13 to press for their demands.“Only one issue has been resolved today. It concerns the declaration of our mass casual leave protest as unauthorised leave and the assurance that ‘no work, no pay’ action will not be initiated against protesting employees. The remaining issues are unresolved and our protest on these issues stands,” said Sahil Sharma, general secretary of the Punjab Civil Secretariat Association.The withdrawal of the agitation also comes as a shot in the arm for the unity of employee unions, which had shown signs of strain after the Punjab State Ministerial Services Union on Tuesday decided not to extend the protest for another three days. Union leaders, however, maintained that the association would participate in the September 12-13 protest already announced by the Joint Action Committee of all employee unions of Punjab.The development has also revived the possibility of a direct meeting between CM Bhagwant Mann and employee representatives. Mann had cancelled a scheduled meeting with employee unions on August 27, maintaining that talks and protests could not continue simultaneously. Sukhchain Khera, convener of the Sanjha Mulazam Manch, an umbrella body of employee unions, claimed that an AIG rank Intelligence officer had met him and assured him that the CM would hold talks with employees if they withdrew the agitation. “Let’s see if and when they arrange our meeting with the CM,” Khera said.The employees withdrew the protest around noon after an hour-long meeting between Chief Secretary KAP Sinha and union representatives, including Sahil Sharma, Manjit Singh Randhawa and Alka Chopra. During the meeting, the Chief Secretary assured them that the August 27 letter declaring the mass casual leave as “unauthorised” would be withdrawn and that no coercive action would be initiated against participating employees. The Chief Secretary later described the meeting as “fruitful” in a video message. Khera, however, clarified to employees gathered at the Main Secretariat that there had been no discussion on the unions’ substantive demands.