Arvind Kejriwal attacks Lt Governor, seeks powers available in Sheila Dikshit's

Arvind Kejriwal

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday attacked Lt. Governor Anil Baijal for "stalling" his government's works and urged for all powers that the state government had during his Congress predecessor Sheila Dikshit's tenure be restored.

Speaking in the Assembly, Kejriwal demanded that the Services Department and Anti Corruption Branch should be given back to Delhi government, powers for transfer, posting and vigilance inquiry into officers, should be restored and all files should not be sent to the Lt. Governor for approval.

The Chief Minister said that the Lt. Governor was accountable only to the Bharatiya Janata Party, who appointed him and Baijal does things, which Hitler would not have done. He further said that Dikshit's government had powers to arrest and jail corrupt officers but these were snatched away by the Modi government three months after he came to power.

He complained that during Dikshit's tenure, there was no requirement of sending every file to the Lt Governot and that the then government had the power to carry out recruitment for filling up vacancies and fresh posts in Delhi government departments. Kejriwal further said that a proposal for Delhi Health Corporation was rejected by the Lt. Governor with a note saying: "I don't think it's a good idea."

"Which rule was it violating? Like this even Hitler won't do," he said, adding that by not filling vacancies and saving corrupt officers, the Lt. Governor wants to end the work happening in Delhi. He also said Delhi is faced with a strange governance scenario, which "appears unprecedented in any democratic set-up across the world".

"The elected government which is responsible and accountable to the people has no power and the L-G today enjoys unlimited powers without any responsibility and accountability."

Later, a statement by Delhi Government said the Chief Minister had requested the Lt Governor in March last year to replace the Food Commissioner since there were large-scale complaints about irregularities and corruption in ration distribution. "In the course of last one year, this request was repeated thrice, but honourable Lt Gov chose to ignore it.

"What is the relation between the Lt Gov and the Food Commissioner? There has to be a reason for refusal to remove him even after large scale complaints," it said. Kejriwal said that the elected government is being questioned about ration distribution "despite all its efforts to improve the state of affairs" because of non-cooperation from Lt Governor and his appointed officers."Let the Public Accounts Committee of the Delhi Vidhan Sabha and the CBI examine the ration distribution irregularities threadbare."

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