Congress, BJP lash out at Kejriwal for 'needless' cases

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday welcomed the Delhi High Court decision that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government cannot supersede constitutional provisions and rule like "anarchists".

The Congress too attacked Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for wasting taxpayers' money on unnecessary litigation to fulfill his "political ambition".

"The high court's decision is correct because they were not following the constitutional provisions in Delhi. They were superseding the constitutional provisions, which is unconstitutional," Delhi BJP unit chief Satish Upadhyay told IANS.

The Delhi High Court on Thursday said that the Lt. Governor (LG) is not bound by the aid and advice of the Delhi government's council of ministers. It added that the Delhi government notifications must be issued after consulting the Lt Governor.

"The court has made it clear to them that they (the government) have to govern Delhi under the constitutional provisions," the BJP leader said, adding, "The role of the LG and Chief Minister is defined in the Constitution for an union territory."

Senior Congress leader Sharmistha Mukherjee told IANS, "Kejriwal has wasted 18 months of his governance in a standstill mode and in this duration he has only manufactured conflict with the LG. It is just Kejriwal's desire to have more power than what has been given to him by the Constitution."

"Kejriwal has been wasting Delhi taxpayers' money in litigations without keeping in mind the welfare of those who gave him a huge mandate to bring changes and better their lives," Mukherjee alleged.

"He is wasting taxpayers' money to publicise himself by giving full page advertisements in states like Gujarat, Punjab and Goa, which have nothing to do with Delhi's administration," she said. "This is only furthering his political ambition."

In a major set-back for the AAP government, the court also added that the that Anti-Corruption Branch cannot initiate investigation against central government officials.

The court's judgement came on nine different petitions arising out of the spat between the Lt. Governor and Delhi's AAP government over the power to appoint bureaucrats in the national capital and other issues.

--IANS

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