w Delhi: The tussle over who runs Delhi took a new twist on Friday after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of trying to control the Delhi government by proxy.
“The Modi government is trying to run the state with 3 BJP MLAs through backdoor,” he said.
“L-G Jung is just the face; the orders are coming from above,” he alleged.
Reiterating his allegation of the BJP using the Lieutenant Governor to govern Delhi by proxy, he said, “The Prime Minister’s Office acts like the Queen of England used to, with the Lieutenant Governor as Viceroy.” The BJP, he said, is trying to “run Delhi with three MLAs”; his Aam Aadmi Party has the remaining 67 seats in the state legislature.
Kejriwal was reacting to a Ministry of Home Affairs notification to the Delhi government stating that the IAS and IPS positions come under the Center’s control and that the Lieutant Governor did have the power on service issues to make appointments.
The MHA quoted article 239AA in its notification on the state public service.
Slamming the notification, Kejriwal said, “Never has the LG asked about water or electricity, all they are interested in is transfer posting.”
“The BJP and Congress want to have their own officers in Delhi and get government contracts for their own people,” the Delhi chief minister said at a press conference. “Who are they trying to protect through this notification?” he asked.
“We will strategise our action on the gazette notification issued,” he said.
The Delhi CM however downplayed the tussle with L-G, saying he has no jung with Najeeb Jung. “We are examining the notification and consulting constitutional experts.”
Â