Delhi deadlock deepens

New Delhi: The one-upmanship tussle between Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung escalated further as the latter on Wednesday cancelled all orders issued by Delhi government in the last four days regarding transfer and posting of officials.

The order came after days of bitter war of words between the two sides over the appointment of senior IAS officer Shakuntala Gamlin as acting Delhi Chief Secretary.

Both the sides are claiming to have the power and authority over the other to choose bureaucrats and have knocked the doors of Rashtrapati Bhawan over the issue.

The Lt Governor has written to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, mentioning his “constitutional power” to appoint and transfer bureaucrats. In the letter, the Lt Governor challenged AAP government’s order to bureaucrats not to follow his directives without getting approval from the Chief Minister or any other minister.

Earlier, Kejriwal took his fight against the LG to Prime Minister Narendra Modi,  as the Delhi chief minister asked him to allow the city government to function “independently” even as he accused the Centre of trying to run the Delhi administration.

In a letter to Modi, Kejriwal mentioned the posting and transfers made by Lt Governor Najeeb Jung and said the elected government must have a say about distribution of work to senior officials.

“In Delhi, Central government is trying to run government unconstitutionally through the Lt Governor. Let Delhi government function independently,” Kejriwal said in the letter to Modi.

The letter by Kejriwal to the Prime Minister came a day after both he and Jung took their bitter fight to President Pranab Mukherjee, accusing each other of violating the Constitution and overstepping their respective jurisdictions.

The Lt Governor has been maintaining that he has the power to appoint and transfer the bureaucrats and none of his actions has been “unconstitutional” as was being alleged by the AAP government.

Kejriwal had on Tuesday met Mukherjee along with his deputy Manish Sisodia, who said “LG was functioning as if there is President’s Rule in the national capital and there is no elected government here.” 

(With inputs from PTI)