AAP MLAs slam Delhi LG for restricting works

A day after Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal listed out the achievements of the city government during the ongoing Budget Session, AAP MLAs on Saturday accused him of creating hurdles and restricting works laid out by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

During a discussion on the Motion of Thanks on Baijal's address, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Rakhi Birla said the Lieutenant Governor in his address listed out the achievements of the government, "but he is the same Lieutenant Governor who did not approve the CCTV files".

"He was the same who sat on the files of mohalla clinics," Birla, who is also the Deputy Speaker of Delhi Legislative Assembly, said.

"He repeatedly said 'my government' in his speech as he listed the achievements. But I feel, deep down, he wanted to say that these are the things I wanted to stop the government from doing."

Party MLA Nitin Tyagi said the government could have done much more work in the last four years if Baijal had supported it.

"We could do more work with the support of the LG. If he had supported, the CCTV project could have been implemented by now. The development could have been four times more."

Urging Baijal to support the Delhi government, the MLA from Laxmi Nagar constituency said: "The Lieutenant Governor should decide on whose side he is - Centre or the people.

"We request him that he should respect the chair and should at least once support the government and the people of Delhi."

AAP MLA Rajesh Gupta accused Baijal of not having any attachment with the government or its work and said the Lieutenant Governor should interact more with the people or its elected representatives.

"There was no expression on his face. He should interact with the MLAs or with the public so that he should know what is going on and what people expect from the government," the Wazirpur MLA said.

On the contrary, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Vijendar Gupta during the discussion, said the Lieutenant Governor was standing as if "he was forced to speak whatever the government had asked him to".

"It was visible that whatever he (Baijal) was reading, he himself was not convinced with it."

Gupta, also the Leader of Opposition, demanded a white paper on Baijal's speech "so that the truth can be revealed".

"His (Baijal's) speech was written by (Deputy Chief Minister) Manish Sisodia and the government did not allow Baijal to change even a comma in it. There are several facts in the speech which are not on the ground."

Sisodia, while concluding the discussion, called it the "beauty of democracy" that Baijal, who repeatedly restricted the works of the Delhi government, "has to say on record that the government has done so much work".

"I understand the helplessness of Baijal. He has to stop the work (we do) on the order of the Prime Minister but here he has to praise the works done by the Delhi government."

On Friday, Baijal said the Delhi government is committed to the welfare of the people and its actions have added impetus to the development process in the city.

The House, in the end, thanked and expressed its gratitude to Baijal for his address.

--IANS

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