Delhi ‘jung’ at Rashtrapati’s door
The ongoing tussle between lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal reached its peak when both of them met President Pranab Mukherjee separately on Tuesday and briefed him about the standoff over the appointment of top bureaucrats. Jung, who was the first to meet the President, later also called on Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to tell his side of the story. Hours before Kejriwal met the President, Jung, in a sudden turn of events, called on the President and apprised him of the ongoing tussle over the appointments of key bureaucrats in the Delhi Government, with sources maintaining that it was a “constitutional crisis-like situation in Delhi”.
The lieutenant Governor has been maintaining that he has the power to appoint and transfer the bureaucrats and none of his actions has been “unconstitutional” as was being alleged by the AAP Government. According to sources, the lieutenant Governor has also given a brief note to the President and Home Ministry about orders being issued by the Kejriwal Government to usurp powers of lieutenant Governor.
According to sources, Jung was also taking legal opinion about issues relating to authority over bureaucrats in Delhi Government. Interestingly, a number of senior bureaucrats were caught in the crossfire between Jung and Kejriwal. The l-G has also hardened his stand maintaining that he was the main authority in dealing with transfers and postings of senior bureaucrats.
In the evening, Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia met the President. Kejriwal complained about what he alleges is blatant overreach by Jung, who unilaterally promoted IAS officer Shakuntala Gamlin as acting Chief Secretary, making her Delhi’s seniormost officer without the Chief Minister’s consent. “We told President that lt Governor is acting as if there is President’s Rule in Delhi. The main thing is that he is directing officers directly. In the last one week, he has directly ordered officers at least four times, bypassing Chief Minister and Council of Ministers,” Sisodia said reporters after the meeting.
Sisodia said that they have requested him (President) to ask him (l-G) to not do what he was doing. “Despite having a democratically-elected Government, he (l-G) is bypassing the Chief Minister and Ministers and issuing instructions to officers. He is even threatening them with transfers if they do not follow his orders. It is not good for democracy. We told the President that we accepted l-G’s decision to appoint Acting Chief Secretary even without consulting us. But after that too, he has been appointing officers bypassing the elected Government. He is even interfering in the appointments of secretaries and directly ordering them. Then where is the democracy,” Sisodia told reporters after meeting the President.