This Article is From May 23, 2015

Amid Tussle Between Arvind Kejriwal and Lt Governor, Delhi Government Calls for Emergency Assembly Session

Amid Tussle Between Arvind Kejriwal and Lt Governor, Delhi Government Calls for Emergency Assembly Session

File Photo of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party government has called for a two-day emergency session of the Delhi assembly from Tuesday to discuss the Home Ministry's notification giving absolute powers to the Lieutenant Governor in appointment of bureaucrats and clarifying that he need not "consult" the chief minister on subjects like police and public order.

The decision was taken in a cabinet meeting chaired by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today. The Assembly session was originally scheduled for June.

Mr Kejriwal had retaliated to the notification by the Home Ministry, issued on Thursday, by accusing the Centre of "betraying the people of Delhi" and attempting to protect corrupt officers. 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.

Today, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju hit back saying the AAP leader only wants "drama" while the NDA government believes in governance.

"It's not worth responding to Kejriwal who just wants drama. We don't believe in drama but in governance," Mr Rijiju told reporters.

Mr Kejriwal and the Lieutenant Governor, whose working relationship has never been smooth, plummeted into their latest battle over an IAS officer described by the Chief Minister as a "lobbyist for power companies". She was picked by Mr Jung as Acting Chief Secretary or the senior-most bureaucrat in the Delhi government.

Mr Kejriwal has claimed that an elected government cannot be saddled with bureaucrats against its choice, a stand that has been backed by other heads of state governments.
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