Extending season’s greetings to Delhi Chief Minister Atishi, Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena has taken the opportunity to hit out at her predecessor and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal for calling her a “temporary Chief Minister”. In a strongly worded letter to Atishi, Lt Governor expressed his disapproval of the AAP chief referring to her as a ‘temporary Chief Minister’.
The letter, criticised the remark as an affront to constitutional values and the dignity of the office. Saxena described the comments as not only insulting to Atishi but also disrespectful to the President of India and himself as her representative. He emphasised the importance of maintaining a respectful level of public discourse, particularly regarding the role of the Chief Minister.
“... I found this very objectionable and I was hurt by it. It was not only an insult to you, but also to your appointee, the President of India and to me as her representative’ As a Lieutenant Governor, I am concerned about this level of public discourse and at the same time, I am hurt by the conversation of presenting the full-time Chief Minister of my government as a temporary Chief Minister...” reads the letter.
Taking a jibe at AAP over the announcement, the Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) shared a poster on X, showing Arvind Kejriwal controlling Atishi with strings, insinuating that he would run the Delhi government through her.
In a statement Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva, stated that the letter written by the Lieutenant Governor Vinay Kumar Saxena to Chief Minister Atishi Marlena reflects the true reality of the Delhi government. He said that while political ideologies may differ, it is “at least evident that Atishi Marlena is seen carrying out administrative duties as a Chief Minister, something that has been notably absent during the almost ten-year tenure of Arvind Kejriwal, who merely functioned as a ‘ribbon-cutting’ Chief Minister”.
The LG further outlined the challenges faced by the Delhi government including the Yamuna pollution crisis, garbage management, and the poor state of infrastructure in industrial and slum areas. He slammed the AAP supremo and said, “The public characterisation of a temporary or stopgap chief minister, as articulated by Shri Kejriwal, has no constitutional basis. It is also a deplorable violation of the democratic spirit and values enshrined in the Constitution authored by Babasaheb Ambedkar”.
The Lieutenant Governor lauded Atishi for her approach in governance, contrasting it with her predecessor’s alleged reluctance to take on administrative responsibilities. “For the first time during my tenure, I have seen a Chief Minister actively performing the duties of the office,” he wrote. Saxena had earlier offered words of praise for Atishi, calling her “a thousands times better” than her predecessor, with whom he has had several tempestuous run-ins, on legal, administrative, and governance issues, over the past months.
In September, AAP leader Atishi was named as the new Chief Minister of Delhi following Kejriwal’s announcement to resign from the top post after being granted interim bail for his alleged involvement in the Delhi liquor policy case. The official announcement was made by Delhi minister Gopal Rai. Notably, several other AAP leaders were in the fray to succeed Kejriwal, including Kailash Gahlot, Saurabh Bharadwaj and Gopal Rai.
Atishi was elevated to the position of cabinet minister in the Delhi government after Satyender Jain and Manish Sisodia tendered their resignations last year. She, along with Saurabh Bharadwaj, were made Delhi ministers, but Atishi was given charge of 14 departments, including education, finance, planning, PWD, water, power and public relations.
The letter also saw LG expressing his concern about the level of political discourse in the capital. “On the occasion of swearing in you as the Chief Minister, I had also congratulated you wholeheartedly and wished you and in the period from then till now, for the first time in my two and a half years of tenure, I saw a person holding the post of Chief Minister doing the work of the Chief Minister. Where your predecessor Chief Minister did not have a single department of the government and neither did he sign files, you took charge of many departments and tried to work on various issues of administration,” Saxena said.