The Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday attacked the BJP and said that the “unconstitutional” way in which the Central government is attempting to strip the Delhi government’s powers through the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2021, is “condemnable”.
“The BJP-ruled Central government is once again trying to rob the elected government of Delhi of its powers. The BJP lost poorly in the Assembly elections in Delhi and in the recently concluded civic body byelections too, they won zero seats. Seeing the growing popularity of the AAP from Delhi to Gujarat, the BJP-ruled Centre has conspired to limit an elected government’s powers and is attempting to overturn the judgment of a Constitution Bench,” AAP Delhi in-charge Gopal Rai said.
‘Stifling growth’
Mr. Rai said that the Central government is doing all of this to “restrict” the powers of the Delhi government to stifle its growth.
“Earlier also attempts were made to restrict the powers of the Delhi government. All powers were submitted to the L-G, every file would have to be routed via L-G, which had led to several files being stalled, being delayed,” he said.
Mr. Rai said files pertaining to constructing mohalla clinics were “delayed” for years, and the Lieutenant-Governor’s office even “sat on files” for installing CCTV cameras across the city.
“All of us, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain had sat all night at the L-G’s house just to get a file cleared. The same situation had arisen now, which had become a cause of worry for citizens of Delhi,” he added.
Delhi Ministers, AAP MLAs, MPs and councillors will stage a protest against the Bill at Jantar Mantar on Wednesday.
