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AAP says Centre set to impose Prez Rule, BJP dismisses claim
Delhi minister Atishi alleges BJP plans President's Rule; AAP claims conspiracy to oust Kejriwal. BJP denies; AAP asserts majority in House.
Delhi minister and senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi on Friday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Centre is going to impose President’s Rule, stressing that the Capital’s ruling party has received “several indications” to this effect over the past few days.
“We have learned from reliable people that the BJP-ruled central government is going to impose President’s Rule in Delhi. Many indications of this have emerged over the past few days,” Atishi said during a press conference on Friday.
Delhi BJP leaders called the claims “baseless”.
To be sure, Delhi is in uncharted waters given that it is unprecedented for a chief minister to run the government from prison. Three pleas have been filed in the Delhi high court seeking Kejriwal’s removal as chief minister, and while the court has rejected all three petitions, saying that it could not act in the matter, it stressed that it was up to the President and Delhi’s lieutenant governor to act if they deemed fit. “Everything cannot be done by the court... The LG and the President of India have to consider it,” the bench had said during one of the hearing.
One of the indicators Atishi cited while stressing that a move to impose President’s Rule was afoot was a raft of vacancies open across departments in the Delhi administration. “IAS officers’ postings are controlled by the MHA (Union ministry of home affairs). Lieutenant governor (VK Saxena) has been writing back-to-back letters to the MHA regarding the Delhi government for the past week without any reason,” she said.
An AAP official, seeking anonymity, said at least 10 important departments are being handled as additional charges by officers because new officers are not being posted in Delhi.
“The LG says the (AAP) ministers are not attending the meetings where he wants to have discussions. The same LG (recently) said in the court that issues of pollution and water are transferred subjects and he has nothing to do with it. Then why are you writing to the MHA regarding these subjects,” Atishi said, alluding to a letter Saxena wrote to the MHA, accusing Delhi’s cabinet ministers of ignoring his calls for meetings.
HT reached out to the LG office which did not respond to queries seeking comments.
“Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s personal secretary (Bibhav Kumar) has been sacked citing a nearly 20-year-old case,” the minister added, referring to the vigilance department terminating Kumar late on Wednesday citing a pending criminal matter against him in 2007.
Senior AAP leaders have, since Kejriwal was arrested on March 21, accused the BJP of trying to topple the Delhi government. To this effect, the AAP has also alleged that the BJP has tried to “buy” MLAs and clamp President’s Rule to throttle Delhi’s ruling party. The party and Kejriwal have maintained that the case against the chief minister is politically motivated and part of a bid to scythe the AAP’s ambitions ahead of the general elections.
The AAP controls a major swathe of the House, with 62 of 70 MLAs. Delhi labour minister Raaj Kumar Anand on Wednesday said he had quit the AAP, accusing it of corruption and of ignoring Dalits.
The party has also insisted that Kejriwal will continue as chief minister despite being incarcerated, arguing that the BJP will look to “destroy the AAP” if he quits.
“Kejriwal has an overwhelming majority in the Delhi assembly. The party’s attempts to impose the President’s Rule will be illegal, unconstitutional and against the mandate of the people,” said Atishi.
Corruption vs conspiracy
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva hit back at Atishi.
“She should explain whether a majority of her party MLAs are leaving the party and if the government fears losing its majority in the Delhi assembly. It would be better if Arvind Kejriwal resigns, hands over the government to a new chief minister and let Delhi’s administration run properly,” he said in a statement.
In a separate press conference, Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said that Kejriwal proved his majority in the House two months ago, referring to a vote held on February 17 during the assembly’s Budget session. Fifty-four of the 62 AAP MLAs were present and the AAP won the test by voice vote.
“Arvind Kejriwal was also aware of their (BJP) conspiracies and he proved his majority in the Delhi assembly in February. According to the law, there is no need to prove majority for the next six months, but the BJP does not follow the Constitution, and BJP leaders do unconstitutional things. These people do not even follow the orders of the Supreme Court.”
SK Sharma, a constitutional expert, said there is no legislative threat to the government. “The parliamentary practice is that once the government wins floor test there is no need for the ruling party to prove its majority for the next six months,” said Sharma.
Meanwhile, Delhi BJP secretary Bansuri Swaraj claimed that Kejriwal had been running a government devoid of conscience for nine years.
“When the scams of the Kejriwal government are being exposed, they want to keep their legislators together under the fear of President’s Rule. Kejriwal has been running a conscienceless government for more than nine years,” Swaraj said.
