Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday urged Opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha to oppose the Centre’s move to give the lieutenant governor the final say on posts and transfers of all bureaucrats in the national capital.
The Aam Aadmi Party chief made the statement after meeting Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav in Delhi.
On Friday, the Centre had introduced an ordinance to create the National Capital Civil Service Authority, which will administer the transfer and posting of bureaucrats serving the Delhi government.
The ordinance negates the May 11 Supreme Court verdict stating that the Aam Aadmi Party government in the national capital has legislative power over bureaucrats excluding the departments of public order, police and land.
Ordinances cease to exist if they are not approved by Parliament within six weeks of reassembly. Due to this, the Union government will need to introduce a Bill on the matter during the Monsoon Session of Parliament.
On Sunday, Kejriwal said that the Opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha, where the saffron party only has 93 seats out of the 238 elected representatives seats, must vote against the bill when it gets introduced.
“I have requested that if all non-BJP opposition parties gather together, the Ordinance can be defeated in the Rajya Sabha in the form of a bill,” Kejriwal said. “It will be a semi-final of the 2024 general elections if the move is defeated in the upper house. A message will go across the country that BJP will not be able to return in 2024.”
Kumar extended his support to Kejriwal and said that Centre should not take away the rights of state governments that are guaranteed under the Constitution.
“The Supreme Court has given the Delhi government the right to work, how can you take it away?” Kumar asked. “This is astonishing. We are with them [Aam Aadmi Party] and will hold more meetings. We are trying to unite as many Opposition parties as possible and run a nationwide campaign regarding this.”
Yadav said that the manner in which the BJP is harassing state governments where it is not in power shows how democracy is in danger.
“They want to change the Constitution and we will not let this happen,” Yadav told the reporters. “The more they harass Arvind Kejriwal, the stronger he will get and one thing I am certain of is that the BJP is never going to return to power in Delhi.”
Delhi government accuses Lt Governor of indulging in ‘dirty politics’
The Delhi government, responding to allegations of harassment of officials, alleged that Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena was indulging in dirty politics, PTI reported.
Unidentified officials from Saxena’s office claimed that eight civil servants posted in the Delhi government and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi had accused the Aam Aadmi Party-led dispensation of “blatant harassment”, reported PTI.
The officials from the lieutenant governor’s office said that two complaints had been made earlier this year and six after May 11.
“They are absolutely fake complaints,” the state government said on Sunday. “The LG is indulging in dirty politics to divert attention from the public uproar against the Central government’s direct attack on the judiciary by reversing a Supreme Court constitution bench order through an ordinance.”
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