Accusing the Narendra Modi Government of turning its ties with the Delhi Government into an “India-Pakistan” type situation, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday that absence of obstacles would have helped him achieve four times of what has done so far in the city.
“If they would not have made this India-Pakistan situation, then work done by us would have been four times… I had told him (PM), forgive me if I have committed any mistake, but please end these irritants. A lot of work has been done. But if not for obstacles, the amount of work would have been four times,” Kejriwal said during the first edition of his “Talk to AK” show in which he talked about a number of contentious issues, including appointment of 21 Parliamentary Secretaries, arrest of a top bureaucrat by the CBI and transfer of officers.
“Our Assembly passed 14 Bills, including on time-bound services delivery, which had the clause of automatic compensation. It’s been eight months since the passage of this Bill… Remember the Ramlila version of Jan lokpal BillIJ It’s been eight months that we passed it and since then the Centre’s approval is awaited,” Kejriwal said.
Flanked by his Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and music composer Vishal Dadlani (the moderator for the programme), Kejriwal alleged that Delhi has become the “victim” of Centre’s confrontational attitude as AAP MlAs are being arrested on “false charges”.
“In the PM’s eyes there is only one corrupt CM in the country. They want to break us. They enter into settings with other parties. Have FIRs been filed against Robert Vadra or Sonia Gandhi or Shivraj Singh ChouhanIJ They are not scared of me, they are scared of my honesty. The full police force is after us… The Centre is working like the British used to treat the freedom fighters. I have told MlAs this is the second freedom struggle,” Kejriwal said
Justifying his Government’s spending on advertisement, he insisted that it spent only Rs75 crore not Rs526 crore in the last fiscal and accused the RSS of spreading rumours on the issue, saying it has no parallel in the world in spreading rumours.
In the nearly two-hour-long programme that began with a monologue followed by a question and answer session, Kejriwal indicated that the party may contest the next Assembly polls in Gujarat, alleging that an “atmosphere of suppression” was prevailing there and people wanted to overthrow the BJP regime.
Also, he alleged that the Centre was trying to “break” the AAP Government and that BJP President Amit Shah was micromanaging CBI.
“They are not probing the CWG scam. I have told my MlAs to be ready to go to jail. If Rajendra Kumar was not in my office then I can challenge that he would not have been arrested. The message to officers is do not work for us. Amit Shah is micromanaging CBI. But every dog has his day. All these will soon come to an end,” he said.
Referring to a letter written to him by former Gujarat BJP MlA Yatin Oza in which the latter alleged that Amit Shah had struck a deal with AIMIM MlA Akbaruddin Owaisi ahead of the 2015 Bihar elections, the Delhi Chief Minister said if the claims are true, then it was very dangerous.
“Oza is a senior lawyer who was very close to Amit Shah. If what the letter says is true then it’s very dangerous. In Gujarat there is an atmosphere of suppression. There are cases of treason against teachers… People have decided to teach them a lesson. We will contest elections in Gujarat if people want. The response we received was tremendous. We will replicate good work in Punjab,” he said.
Warning the Centre not to “mess” with the student community, he said if the current “trend” continues then there may be a “danger” for the country in the future.
“The Centre led by BJP reduced the education Budget by 25 per cent from Rs82,000 crore to Rs68,000 crore. The country will be ruined if youth don’t study,” he said.
On the issue of transfer of 11 top officials of the Delhi Government out of the city, he said the city dispensation must be discussed on such crucial matters and added that his Government will bring officers from outside…
Officers from my office have been transferred and probably for the first time in India’s history officers have been transferred from CMO without permission, he said, adding “Your (Centre) intention is to stall governance in Delhi.”
“They want to paralyse us but we will go strong. Will bring out ads in a few days inviting experts from across the country,” he said. Severely critical of functioning of the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB), Kejriwal said, “last year, on June 8, the Centre had sent paramilitary forces in taking over the ACB. Today if I spot anyone taking bribe in front me, I won’t be able to do anything. We have sent 32 cases in the last one year to it, and people have forwarded 150 complaints but no action has been taken. It has only worked to catch Manish Sisodia, Kapil Mishra and to file FIR against me.”
On the issue of appointment of Parliamentary Secretaries, he said he has “full faith” on the Election Commission which was examining the issue and claimed that MlAs holding the post in Punjab and Gujarat were earning crores.