CM Kejriwal replies to Delhi LG, demands public discussion on several issues

New Delhi [India], January 9 (ANI): Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal replied to Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena's dig on the governance of Delhi, mentioning that he was busy in Assembly elections like other BJP leaders. The CM also demanded a public discussion on several issues.
CM also reiterated his allegation of LG bypassing the elected government in the appointment of Aldermen, the presiding officers and the Haj committee and demanded a public discussion on these issues.
CM Arvind Kejriwal wrote, "At the beginning of your letter, you have sarcastically mentioned '....you have started taking governance in the city seriously...' after my election campaigns. AAP is a national party and as its national convenor, I have to attend elections campaigns in different parts of the country. Prime Minister, Home Minister and many BJP Chief Ministers like Yogi Adityanath ji, Shivraj Singh ji, Pushkar Dhami ji etc were also campaigning for their party at that time in Gujarat and Delhi."
While accepting the meeting invitation, CM Kejriwal wrote, "thank you for inviting me for discussions. I will definitely come. I will fix up a convenient time with your office."
"An important discussion has started in the last few days, which has critical bearings on Indian democracy. I would urge you to kindly make your stand on those issues public. When your good self unilaterally appointed 10 aldermen, presiding officer and the Haj Committee bypassing elected govt. and directly getting the officers to issues necessary notifications, there was strong public criticism, CM wrote reiterating the previous issues."
"A statement was issued by your office on January 7 in which you admitted having taken all those actions unilaterally bypassing the govt. However, you justified your actions by saying that in all those Acts and provisions, it was written that "Administrator/LG shall appoint...." or the Act defined govt. as "Administrator/LG", therefore, those Acts gave you the powers to act eo- nominee," CM wrote.
He further added, "In my letter on the same date, which was made public to take this debate forward, I had requested you to kindly make you stand public whether this was your position that from now onwards, on all those subjects where the law uses the words "Administrator/LG", elected govt. would be bypassed/ignored and Hon'ble LG would directly deal with the officers and directly run those departments?"
The CM in his letter has demanded a public discussion on several issues.
"For instance, all laws and Acts related to electricity, health, water, education etc - define govt. as "Administrator/LG". So, does it mean that from now on, the power department, education department, health department, water department etc - all these will be directly run by you? Then what would the elected govt? do sir? Won't that be contrary to all SC judgements where it has been repeatedly said that LG is bound by the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers on all transferred subjects? "Kejriwal wrote.
He wrote, "Whereas we could discuss all these issues privately over tea, however, these questions are very critical for the future of Delhi and the whole country. Therefore, a public discussion on this issue will be useful".
Earlier, the L-G wrote a letter to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and took a dig at CM's remark "I appreciate the fact that you have started taking governance in the City seriously".
LG Saxena wrote, "I am in receipt of several letters from you over the past few days. At the outset, I would like to express my appreciation for the fact that you have started taking governance in the City seriously and getting into the intricacies of Constitutional provisions, Statutes and Acts that outline the multi-layered scheme of administration in the National Capital Territory of Delhi."
The L-G also invited Delhi CM for a meeting. "We used to meet regularly till October 2022, where after you expressed your inability to meet due to your preoccupation with State Assembly and Municipal Elections," he wrote. (ANI)