Kejriwal to hold ’Jan Sabha’ to mark 100 days of AAP govt, all set to attack Centre

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, May 25, 2015: To mark the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) 100 days in government, the party MLAs on Sunday came together to attack the Centre. They alleged that the NDA government was violating the federal structure.

 

Following the Centre’s notification backing Lt Governor Najeeb Jung in his dispute with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over administrative jurisdiction, the AAP government has decided to call an ’emergency session’ of the Assembly starting Tuesday.

Before the Assembly session, Kejriwal and his Cabinet will on Monday hold a public meeting at Central Park in Connaught Place, where the issue of full statehood for Delhi is likely to be discussed.

On Sunday, the party leadership and the legislators had a meeting at Kejriwal’s residence to discuss the issues ahead of the two-day emergency session. "We discussed the Centre’s notification as it is trying to take away our powers. There will be a discussion on the notification during the session and tabling a resolution against it is also an option," an MLA said on the condition of anonymity.

Other attendees also hinted that the AAP government may table a resolution to reject the Centre’s notification appointment of bureaucrats.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia accused the Narendra Modi government of taking the biggest U-turn on BJP’s poll promise of granting full statehood to Delhi. "Modi government’s minister Harsh Vardhan has been saying it repeatedly...Modiji himself said and they put it in their manifesto to give Delhi full statehood. Now when the issue has come up, forget about talking about it, they are showing dadagiri. The Delhi government will not keep quiet on the issue," he said.

While AAP MLAs accused the Centre of infringing on their rights, the party said it has also kept the legal route open. "If the Assembly decides to go to court, we would move the court. You (Centre) can’t run an elected government through the back door using the L-G," MLA Alka Lamba said.

The fight ahead

The legislators also vowed to fight any attempt to run the state government through the back door. The meeting, which went on for over an hour, also saw the legislators demanding that they be allowed to speak individually on the Home Ministry’s notification that gives absolute powers to the L-G in appointing bureaucrats, besides on the issues of police and public order.

Speaking after the meeting, MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj said the Centre was going against the principles of democracy. "According to the Constitution, the Lt Governor can interfere in the matters of land, public order and police. But the encroachment on the rights of an elected legislature is a serious infringement. The Central government is going against the basic principles of democracy," he said.

Lamba said that the MLAs want the emergency session to be transparent as well as a debate on the full statehood issue. "People should know how the BJP is conspiring to weaken the AAP government and taking the rein in its hands by issuing such notifications. They are even trying to weaken the anticorruption bureau (ACB) by putting it under the L-G’s purview," Lamba said.

In the notification issued on Friday, the Centre had given absolute powers to the L-G in appointing bureaucrats while also clarifying that he need not consult the chief minister on subjects like police and public order.

Criticising the Centre’s notification, Lamba said: "The Constitution does not give the Centre any power to transfer or appoint even a clerk, so they had to take the route of issuing a notification. If the CM does not have the right to appoint or suspend, how is an elected government supposed to fight corrupt officials?"

Terming the Assembly a temple of democracy, AAP’s Dwarka MLA Adarsh Shastri alleged, "The BJP government is trying to infringe on our right…and it is a violation of the sanctity of federal structure by design."

Meanwhile, eminent lawyer Indira Jaising supported the AAP government in its ongoing tussle with the L-G, terming the Centre’s notification "patently unconstitutional". She said: "The notification of May 21, 2015, is ultra vires the power of the Union government and the President. The Delhi government has the power to legislate on the matters covered by Entry 41 and, hence, co-extensive executive powers."

 

Courtesy: Indiatoday