Delhi L-G not present at Niti Aayog meet, Amitabh Kant tells CM Arvind Kejriwal

Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant responded to Delhi chief minister’s Twitter post questioning who had given Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal the power to replace the CM at the council meeting.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal faced flak on Sunday for saying Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal had flouted the constitution by attending a meeting of Niti Aayog, quoting a tweet to make his accusation.

Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal at the Vidhan Sabha in New Delhi.(Raj K Raj/HT File Photo)

“This is totally incorrect. Lt. Governor of Delhi is not present at the Fourth Meeting of the Govening Council of NITI Aayog,” said Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Aayog, the central government’s top policy advisor. Kejriwal, who has been holding a sit-in protest at Baijal’s office-cum-residence since Monday evening, boycotted the meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Under which provision of the Constitution does LG have powers to replace the Chief Minister? I have not authorised him to go in my place,” said Kejriwal on Twitter, quoting a post which has now been deleted.

Kejriwal and three Aam Aadmi Party ministers have refused to leave Baijal’s office, saying they would stay put until the L-G orders bureaucrats posted in Delhi government to withdraw their “strike” and attend meetings with government officials.

In an interview with HT, Kejriwal said the Prime Minister can end the AAP-Centre standoff in one minute if he wanted. The party has also warned of a larger protest demanding that full statehood be granted to Delhi, which is administered partly by the government, partly by the Centre, and part of whose civic administration is handled by elected municipal bodies.

In response, the Bharatiya Janata Party refuted Kejriwal’s allegations while four party leaders have been counter-protesting by camping at the Delhi secretariat until Kejriwal comes back to work.