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Vijaya Pushkarna
Vijaya Pushkarna

DELHI

AAP, Centre turf war resumes after brief hiatus

PTI12_29_2017_000176B Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal with Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia addresses the officers at Delhi Secretariat in New Delhi on Friday | PTI

LG shots down govt proposal on doorstep delivery of public services

After what seemed like a brief hiatus, the power tussle between the AAP and the Centre resumed as Lt Governor Anil Baijal shot down the Delhi government's proposal to deliver some basic public services at the doorstep of people. According to Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, the proposal pertained to 40 services including the issue of caste, birth and address certificates, driving licences, social welfare schemes, pensions and registration of births and death. Sisodia revealed that Baijal had told them to stop at digitalisation, as the proposal had issues that could impair the safety of women and senior citizens. 

Baijal has pointed out that service at the doorstep could result in corruption and bad behaviour, and specified that people out to deliver these services could add to the congestion on Delhi's already overcrowded roads!

Thus, the AAP government lost a golden opportunity to step up its popularity with the people who have elected them.

The AAP said in a tweet on Saturday that even the opposition would agree that the initiatives of Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government were being blocked or stopped by “unelected administrative machinery”.

"The elected govt is accountable to the citizens, hence it should be allowed to function without any interference through LG,” it said.

The party appended to the  tweet a video clip of Rajya Sabha members appealing to the Union government not to obstruct the chief minister of Delhi from carrying on his work. T.K. Rangarajan of the CPI(M) urged for full powers to the state government. D. Raja of the CPI went on to point out that in Puducherry where  also there is an elected government, the Lt Governor, an appointee of the BJP government, was not allowing the elected government to function.

Delhi Metro, which comes under the Centre, did not invite Chief Minister Kejriwal to the inauguration of a new corridor called the Magenta line by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 25. Incidentally, the Delhi government is 50 per cent partner in the DMRC. Sisodia attributed this "insult" to the fact that Kejriwal has been urging the Centre to roll back the recent substantial hike in the metro fare.

The Delhi chief minister had suggested that the Centre and the Delhi government share the burden of Delhi Metro. 

The Centre and the DMRC, according to Sisodia, feared that Kejriwal might use the opportunity to raise the issue of the fare hike. But the AAP rank and file considered it as a BJP and Modi way of humiliating the Delhi chief minister who gave the BJP a crushing defeat in the assembly elections.

While the metro fares are fixed by a multi-member committee, the fare hike, which is now going to happen periodically and automatically, is bound to hit the Delhi government adversely. The AAP through its Facebook page sought to quantify people's anger over Kejriwal being ignored, by asking them to show their  anger by donating to the party.

The AAP had, before coming to power, promised Delhi residents free drinking water “that would be better than RO water” by December 2017. On Tuesday, when the Delhi Jal Board approved a combined hike of 20 per cent for water and sewer charges for water consumption above 20,000 litres a month,  with effect from February 2018, the Delhi unit of the BJP has come down on the party for going back on its promises.

The AAP has been at pains to point out that the hike will not apply to those who consume upto 20,000 litres which was a key election promise made by the party.

If its continuous struggle with the Centre and the Delhi unit of the BJP was not enough, the young party has troubles in the house as well. The followers of its other well known leader, Kumar Vishwas, has threatened to launch a stir to press for his nomination for Rajya Sabha candidature. Vishwas has been seen as trying to overthrow Kejriwal in a dramatic party coup.

Elections to three Rajya Sabha seats from Delhi will be held on January 16. AAP sources say the party can bag all the three. The last date for filing nominations is January 5. Even as Vishwas opted out of the race for Rajya Sabha, the  party has announced the name of Sanjay Singh for one of the three seats, and is expected to release the name of the other two in the next three days. Sources say Kejriwal has even offered a ticket to former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, who politely declined it citing commitment to his teaching job.

The Delhi chief minister has in the recent past reserved his comments on most of the issues. However, he does retweet. And one of the retweets of Friday night reads, "LG wants to go #digital, for people to go online in a country where majority haven't a clue how to use computer"

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