The Supreme Court’s judgement on the lieutenant governor’s powers in Delhi is a “verdict against anarchy” and is no reason for the Aam Aadmi Party to celebrate, Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Sambit Patra claimed on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government called the judgement a victory for democracy.
Addressing a press conference hours after the verdict, Patra said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal should stop making excuses for not working and to stage dharnas. If the Centre obstructed his government’s work, then he should not take credit for his achievements in newspaper advertisements and hoardings, Patra said.
Before the judgement, the AAP government repeatedly claimed that the lieutenant governor had paralysed its executive functions and bureaucrats were not obeying the orders of the chief minister.
Patra accused Kejriwal of being a “self-declared anarchist” who thinks “he is the Constitution”. The summary of the judgement, Patra said, was that “the Constitution is sacrosanct, constitutional morality is extremely important, and anarchy has no place in the Indian democratic set-up”.
In the verdict on Wednesday, a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court said the lieutenant governor of Delhi is bound by the “aid and advice” of the council of ministers of the Delhi government in all matters under its jurisdiction.
Kejriwal’s deputy Manish Sisodia called the verdict a “landmark judgement” and said the Delhi government will no longer have to send its files to the lieutenant governor for approval.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy said the Supreme Court’s verdict is “correct” and the lieutenant governor must respect the Delhi Cabinet’s decisions. “But if any anti-national security or anti-constitutional decision is taken, which they are capable of taking, as they are Naxalite-type people, then LG can oppose,” Swamy told ANI.
The Delhi unit chief of the saffron party, Manoj Tiwari, took a jibe at Arvind Kejriwal and said he can no longer rule through anarchy. “Start following the constitution and work for the betterment of Delhiites,” he wrote on Twitter.
BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli criticised the AAP for terming the verdict their victory. “Their main plank was that this [Delhi] is a state, whereas court has unequivocally said it’s not a state,” Kohli was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.” They said they had exclusive executive control, that was rejected too. This is a UT, Centre has a role to play.”
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