Headlines
Delhi assembly rejects Centre's notification; it's AAP vs Centre
New Delhi, May 27
The Delhi assembly on
Wednesday adopted a resolution against the Centre's decree giving Lt.
Governor Najeeb Jung the power to post and transfer bureaucrats in the
capital, with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accusing Prime Minister
Narendra Modi of nurturing dictatorship.
The strongly-worded
resolution passed by the Aam Aadmi Party-dominated assembly has now
brought the Kejriwal government in direct confrontation with the Modi
government.
The resolution will be sent to President Pranab Mukherjee, Jung and Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
"This
is the Delhi experiment of the BJP-led centre. One by one, this
experiment would be implemented in every non-BJP state. They want to
take the country towards dictatorship," Kejriwal told the assembly on
the second day of the two-day special session called to discuss the
union home ministry notification curbing the state government's powers.
The chief minister continued his scathing attack on the Centre in his over 25-minute address to the assembly.
"This
is not a constitutional issue as the BJP president (Amit Shah)
yesterday (Tuesday) said. This is a political issue," he added.
Kejriwal
also said the Centre was readying to put the Anti-Corruption Bureau
(ACB) under Jung's control, but the Delhi High Court order prevented it.
"The high court verdict was like a miracle," he said.
The Centre's notification also asserted that Delhi's ACB cannot probe central governmrnt officials.
Kejriwal also accused the BJP-led government of sabotaging the AAP government.
Passed
by voice vote, the resolution termed the May 21 notification issued by
the union home ministry "illegal" and "unconstitutional".
However,
constitutional expert Subhash C. Kashyap said the resolution was "an
opinion and had no legal or constitutional binding".
The
resolution also asked city officials to ignore the central notification
and obey the decisions of Delhi's council of ministers and work without
fear.
"The house expects the officers and employees of the
(Delhi) government to follow the orders related to work allotment
without any fear. This house assures them that as long as they continue
working sincerely in the service of the people of Delhi, this house will
not let any officer or employee be victimised by any extraneous
element, whatsoever," the resolution said.
"This house strongly
condemns such attempts on the part of the central government and finds
it an assault on the federal structure of our country as enshrined in
the Constitution of India," the strongly-worded resolution said.
It was passed in the absence of the three BJP legislators who protested the move.
During the discussion, Leader of Opposition Vijendra Gupta said the AAP government "has become arrogant".
Kejriwal
said the government was answerable to the people as they had certain
expectations from it, and not from the lt. governor.
"We are answerable to the people, hence we must have the right to appoint our officials," he added.
Attacking
the lt. governor on the issue of appointments and transfers of
bureaucrats, Kejriwal said: "The LG has never asked me about the
electricity situation in Delhi; but he is very interested in transfers
and postings."
Continuing his attack on the lt. governor,
Kejriwal added: "Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung is creating an atmosphere in
Delhi to ensure that the AAP fails completely.
"He is ordering
the demolition of jhuggis in the city to give out the impression that it
was the Delhi government which was responsible for this."
Kejriwal
accused the Centre and Jung of joining hands against the Delhi
government and said they should "stop conspiring" against the AAP
government.
The May 21 notification had backed Jung in his tussle with Kejriwal over the appointment of senior officials.
It
all began after the already-strained relationship between Jung and
Kejriwal snowballed into a full-blown war when the chief minster
objected to the appointment of a bureaucrats as the acting chief
secretary.