Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.
Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi Chief Minister, complain about tacit interference by Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung in the affairs of the AAP government, took to Twitter.
“Today, several officers transferred by LG directly. Files not even shown to CM or any minister. Is this Modi model of democracy?” asked Kejriwal in a tweet posted early Tuesday morning. The chief minister said the L-G transferred the officers despite deputy CM Manish Sisodia’s repeated requests not to do the same till March 31. “Modiji is hell bent on destroying Delhi thro LG,” Kejriwal alleged in another tweet.
The Kejriwal-LG saga has been playing out in Delhi ever since the Aam Aadmi Party was voted to power in February, 2015 with a landslide majority. The chief minister has pinned the blame on the Narendra Modi government at the Centre for interference in Delhi’s affairs through the office of the Lieutenant Governor. The BJP has declined the allegations and accused the AAP government of relentlessly indulging in a war of words with the Centre.
Earlier this week, Kejriwal alleged the PM was working in tandem with power discoms to benefit them. He also said the L-G’s office cancelled his government’s order to make discoms pay compensation for unscheduled power cuts. But the L-G’s office called the statement ‘incorrect and misleading.’
The tussle between Kejriwal and Jung has continued even after the Delhi High Court ruled that the Capital continues to be a Union Territory under the administrative control of the L-G. The order was a major setback to the AAP government which has been pursuing demands for statehood of Delhi ever since its ascension to power. The High Court also termed the decisions of the AAP government to probe irregularities in DDCA and CNG fitness scam as ‘illegal.’
