Kejriwal pens another letter to PM, hits out at Centre

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has again written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing the Centre of reducing Delhi to a 10-percent state.

While urging the Prime Minister to ask IAS officers to call off their alleged 'strike,' Kejriwal, in his letter, also said that the premier was operating with an intention of crippling the Delhi Government as it was not run by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

"I am supposed to work with the IAS officers but I can't take disciplinary action against them, can't transfer them, and I can't even punish the corrupt officers," he wrote.

Kejriwal further said that the Centre snatched away their rights over the IAS officers, adding that former chief minister Sheila Dikshit had much more power in her hands.

"During Sheila Dikshit's regime, she could transfer any officer, suspend them, and take action against corrupt officers. But, we don't have even 10 percent of that power. In an order in 2015, all IAS officers would come directly under the central government and no state government would have control over them."

The Chief Minister further demanded that the rights the government had before 2015 to be restored.

He continued that they tried to meet Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal for the past eight days, but no meeting took place.

"We wrote over 4 letters to the Lt. Governor in the past 10 days, but there is no response. The Lt. Governor refused to meet Chief Ministers, Ministers, and Members of Parliament. In fact, when two MLAs went to meet him, he called the police and threw them out," wrote Kejriwal.