Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday said that efforts are being made to dislodge the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and bring back ‘corruption’.
Speaking during the prize distribution of the Delhi government’s Trade and Taxes Department ‘Bill Banwaao Inaam Paao’, Mr. Sisodia said: “You all have given us vote and note (taxes) to us. But we can only protect your note through our VAT department as the Centre, through the High Court, has challenged your vote”.
The Deputy CM claimed that through various schemes the AAP government is trying to bring in transparency and weed out corruption, which is deeply rooted in the system.
“But now the Centre, through the Lieutenant Governor, wants to make the AAP government powerless. It is time that we show them (Centre and L-G) the power of a vote,” Mr. Sisodia said.
Last week, the High Court had pronounced that the L-G is the administrative head of Delhi. A few days later, when a news channel asked L-G Najeeb Jung about his views on scrapping the Delhi Assembly, he had said: “As a thinking human being, as a citizen of Delhi, why would I be not open to giving thought to anything that involves Delhi.”
Mr. Sisodia and AAP leaders have slammed the L-G for taking over Delhi without even contesting an election and alleged that he is challenging ‘democracy’.
The AAP leaders slammed the L-G and called him a puppet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Referring to a notification dated May 21, 2015, AAP’s Delhi convenor Dilip Pandey said Mr. Jung had termed the Chief Minister’s order asking officers to send files directly to ministers as ‘unconstitutional’.
The notification had also said that the L-G was the sole authority in matters of ordering transfer and posting of bureaucrats.
“You (Jung) are saying that the Centre did not do anything to initiate any confrontation and it was the Arvind Kejriwal government which went to court, but you are completely silent on the May 21, 2015 notification which took away many powers of the Delhi government. Why was this notification issued?” Mr. Pandey said.
Attacking Mr. Jung over the functioning of the Delhi Police, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and the three civic bodies, Mr Pandey said that all these agencies are not known to have a good administrative track record. “Being the head of the DDA, you have failed to clear its Rs. 1,200 crore property tax dues towards the civic bodies despite the fact that its employees are struggling to get their salaries,” he said.
