Delhi bill debate showed BJP’s animosity towards AAP: Raghav Chadha

He also alleged that the Delhi Services Bill was introduced by the BJP to “curb AAP’s growing influence”

A day after the Centre’s ordinance on the control of services in the Capital was passed in the Lok Sabha, Aam Aadmi Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha said that Union home minister Amit Shah’s remarks during the debate showed the Bharatiya Janata Party’s “deep-seated animosity” towards Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, and “inadvertently underscored the effective governance delivered by AAP”.

AAP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha (ANI)

He also alleged that the Delhi Services Bill was introduced by the BJP to “curb AAP’s growing influence”. “The introduction of the Delhi Services Bill was a strategic manoeuvre by the BJP to curb AAP’s growing influence following their resounding victory in the 2015 elections, which had left the BJP bereft of political power in Delhi,” Chadha said.

The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023,was passed after a nearly four-hour-long debate which was replied to by the home minister. Shah talked about the unique status of Delhi, a Union territory with a legislature, and slammed the AAP as a “party which is only there to quarrel, and not to serve”.

In response to Chadha’s comments, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said anarchy, arbitrary administration, and corruption prevailed in the Delhi administration after AAP came to power in 2015. “After the May 11 Supreme Court decision, the Arvind Kejriwal government started harassing officials probing scams of the Delhi government... gradually the administrative system of Delhi began to break down. Under these circumstances... the central government had to bring the ordinance,” said Sachdeva.