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Allow city govt to function independently: Kejriwal to Modi

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kejriwal_modi

New Delhi: Taking his fight against the LG to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today asked him to allow the city government to function “independently” even as he accused the Centre of trying to run the Delhi administration.

In a letter to Modi, Kejriwal mentioned the posting and transfers made by Lt Governor Najeeb Jung and said the elected government must have a say about distribution of work to senior officials.

“In Delhi, Central government is trying to run government unconstitutionally through the Lt Governor. Let Delhi government function independently,” Kejriwal said in the letter to Modi.

The letter by Kejriwal to the Prime Minister came a day after both he and Jung took their bitter fight to President Pranab Mukherjee, accusing each other of violating the Constitution and overstepping their respective jurisdictions.

The Lt Governor has been maintaining that he has the power to appoint and transfer the bureaucrats and none of his actions has been “unconstitutional” as was being alleged by the AAP government.

Kejriwal had yesterday met Mukherjee along with his deputy Manish Sisodia, who said “LG was functioning as if there is President’s Rule in the national capital and there is no elected government here.”

“Despite having a democratically elected government, he (LG) is bypassing the chief minister and ministers and issuing instructions to officers. He is even threatening them with transfers if they do not follow his orders. It is not good for democracy.

“We told the President that we accepted LG’s decision to appoint acting Chief Secretary even without consulting us. But after that too, he has been appointing officers bypassing the elected government.

He is even interfering in the appointments of secretaries and directly ordering them. Then where is democracy,” Sisodia had told reporters after meeting Mukherjee.

Jung had yesterday also met Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the issue and informed him about his stand-off with the AAP government.

The tussle over appointment of Shakuntala Gamlin as acting chief secretary of Delhi had turned into a full-blown war between the AAP government and Jung with Kejriwal alleging that the LG was trying to take over the administration.

Despite Kejriwal’s strong opposition, Jung had appointed her to the post on Friday.

(PTI)

Yadav, Bhushan support Kejriwal in tussle with Delhi Lieutenant Governor

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Photo: Arvind Yadav, HT

Photo: Arvind Yadav, HT

New Delhi: Swaraj Abhiyan, a group formed by ousted AAP leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan, came out in support of Delhi dispensation in its tussle with Lt Governor Najeeb Jung over appointments, saying the choice of a democratically elected government should be respected.

It, however, condemned dragging of bureaucracy in the “petty” political fight.

“In principle, Swaraj Abhiyan believes that the choice of a democratically elected government should be respected by Delhi’s Lieutenant-Governor. But the politics of personal allegations, brinkmanship and dragging of the bureaucracy into petty political fights is unfortunate.

“Swaraj Abhiyan condemns it and believes that such a culture is not conducive to the health of democracy,” a statement from the group said.

The Delhi government has locked horns in a power tussle with Lt Govenor Najeeb Jung over appointment of Shakuntala Gamlin as acting Chief Secretary, which was opposed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

The group also supported the AAP’s stand for full statehood to Delhi.

“Swaraj Abhiyan considers the demand for full statehood to Delhi as a genuine one. Parties like Congress and BJP have been adopting double standards and fooling the people on a critical issue. In the spirit of the democracy and benefit of citizens, we believe that important government decisions should always be taken with the elected government in confidence,” it said.

Swaraj Abhiyan hopes that both the sides show maturity, rise above ego-clash and petty political fights in order to break the deadlock so that the people of Delhi do not have to suffer, it added.

Just before Yadav and Bhushan were ousted from AAP last month, along with Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha, the rebel leaders organised an convention called Swaraj Samvad, which was followed by formation of the group called Swaraj Abhiyan.

(Agencies)

AAP government again at loggerheads with Lieutenant Governor over Chief Secretary appointment

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Najeeb Jung Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: The Delhi government, headed by Arvind Kejriwal, has landed in fresh controversy by taking on Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung. Today, in a press release, the government accused Mr Jung of bypassing it and unconstitutionally appointing senior bureaucrat Shakuntala Gamlin as the acting Chief Secretary of the Delhi Government. The Governor has defended his decision.

Chief Secretary KK Sharma in currently on leave and Mr Jung made the appointment today after Ms Gamlin wrote a scathing letter to Jung claiming that she was pressurised by a senior bureaucrat in CM’s office not to be in race for the post due to her alleged proximity to BSES discoms, reported news agency Press Trust of India.

In its statement, the government said there were reservations about Ms Gamlin. “She was perceived to be extremely close to electricity companies in Delhi and was lobbying for their interests within the Government,” read the release from the Directorate of Information and Publicity.

But the Lieutenant Governor, it went on to add, appointed Ms Gamlin “in a completely unconstitutional manner”.

Within hours, Mr Jung’s office responded, saying the LG was authorised by the Constitution to make appointments in consultation with the Chief Minister.

In this case, the Governor approved the name of Ms Gamlin against the name proposed by the Chief Minister as “she was senior and has a proven track record”, said the statement.

The file containing the Governor’s advice was pending in the Chief Minister’s office for 36 hours, after which the appointment was made “since the office of the Chief Secretary cannot be left inordinately vacant,” the statement read.

The fresh controversy comes days as the party puts behind a month-long internal feud that ended with the expulsion of founder members Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav. The acrimony had been bitter and public, marked by comments on social media and media conferences from both sides.

“Mr Kejriwal and his colleagues need to understand that there is a constitutional mandate by which a government runs,” said BJP leader Nalin Kohli.

(Agencies)

Don't care about the media, people of Delhi are happy with the AAP govt, says Kejriwal

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Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: Stating that he doesn’t care about media, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said that if election is held in the national capital today, Aam Aadmi Party would poll 72 percent votes.

“Whatever comes in the media, but I conduct a survey every 15 days of my party in Delhi. If elections are conducted in the national capital, then we are ought to get 72 percent votes. After the elections, our condition has improved a lot,” Kejriwal said, while interacting with party volunteers through Google Hangout.

He also said that his government is going to complete 100 days. After the Delhi Assembly’s elections, people’s affection has increased towards the AAP.

The Delhi Chief Minister also took a dig at the Narendra Modi-led central government, saying “normally, it is seen that parties win the election, but gradually people get fed up of them. The biggest example of this is the Modi government at the Centre”.

“Their popularity has decreased from the time they came to power. But our popularity has increased and today if elections are conducted in Delhi then we will get 72 percent votes according to our survey.”

In the last Assembly elections, the AAP polled 54.59 percent.

Kejriwal said the AAP government is going to complete 100 days in its office on 24 May while the Modi government will complete its one year on May 26.

“I think there should be comparison of work between Modi’s and our governments. There should be comparison as to what we have done in the last 100 days and what Modi’s government has done in the last one year,” he also said.

Attacking the media, the Delhi Chief Minister said, “Media keeps showing us in negative light but don’t worry about that as people of Delhi is happy with us. Despite media’s attempts, people gave us 67 seats.”

“As far as starting a media house is concerned, we don’t want to do that. There are good people in media too, who are not happy. If some senior people come together and want to start a news channel or news paper, the government will definitely help them. We also want a honest media house which only shows news,” he said.

(PTI)

Sniffing plot to finish AAP, Kejriwal bats for public trial of media

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Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday charged there was a “conspiracy to finish off Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)” among a “very large” section of the media even as he supported “public trial” of the media.

Coming out with a strong response to the controversies in which the party finds itself involved, he said “a very big conspiracy” was going on. “A very large section of the media has accepted ‘supari’ for finishing off AAP,” he said.

The ruling AAP has come under fire from Opposition parties over the row in connection with Delhi Law Minister Jitendra Singh Tomar’s degree and in the matter of the alleged suicide by a farmer at a rally led by the party at Jantar Mantar here.

Stating that the matter needed to be taken up if any channel was found airing erroneous content, he declared, “If you see that a particular channel is showing something factually incorrect, then you should raise the issue.

“There can be a public trial. There can be 8-10 spots in Delhi where we can collect a group of people and show the erroneous clip. That way we can start a ‘janta ka trial’.” Speaking at the launch of a news website jantakareporter.com, Kejriwal defended Tomar, who is facing allegations of possessing a fake bachelor of law (LLB) degree, saying, “I have no relation with Tomar nor is he my friend. Why will I save him? As soon as allegations were were raised, I wrote to him seeking an explanation.”

The chief minister added, “if you see his reply, even you will say he is innocent”. “He (Tomar) is innocent and a conspiracy is being run against him,” Kejriwal maintained.

“He (Tomar) has sent his brother to collect his degrees… The court has not said anything but the media is saying everything. They want him sacked,” he added.

On the issue of the alleged suicide by Rajasthan farmer Gajendra Singh at an AAP rally, Kejriwal said, “Nobody had even thought that such a tragedy will occur at Jantar Mantar.

“We were sitting on the stage and where Gajendra was sitting on the tree was not visible,” he said.

“Had we announced anything, a stampede could have occurred because of the large crowd,” the chief minister said, adding “the police would have saved him if they knew it. When his body was brought down, he was living. We should have stopped the programme then.”

Expressing regret over the incident, Kejriwal said that neither he nor the other AAP leaders could get sleep in the night after the tragedy at Jantar Mantar.

Kejriwal also touched upon topics such as the performance of the Narendra Modi government and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi’s engagement with farmers’ issues and the recent row involving his government and Delhi Police.

(PTI)

Shouldn't have gone ahead with the rally, says Kejriwal

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Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi/Jaipur: Admitting his “mistake” of going ahead with his speech at the rally where a farmer from Rajasthan committed suicide, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today tendered an apology, which was “rejected” by the family of the deceased, who demanded a CBI probe into the incident.

“I was to deliver an hour-long speech but I wrapped it up in 10-15 mins. I think that was my mistake. Probably I should not have spoken. If that has hurt anynone’s sentiments I would like to apologise,” an under-fire Kejriwal said.

He, however, insisted that the focus should not deviate from the “real” issues being faced by the farmers.

“I am guilty. Blame me. I feel the rally should have been called off. But please focus on the real issue of the farmers and desist from politicking. Whoever is guilty hang him but the focus of the debate should be on why the farmers are committing suicide,” Kejriwal told a news channel.

Still bitter, the family of Gajendra Singh, 41, who ended his life by hanging from a tree at an AAP rally on Wednesday, refused to accept Kejriwal’s apology.

“What will happen now after this apology? My brother has died. Kejriwal did not stop the rally for even two minutes after the incident,” the farmer’s sister Rekha told reporters at his native Nangal Jhamarwada village in Dausa district of Rajasthan.

Backing the conspiracy theory behind her brother’s tragic death, she said, “He might have been provoked… some conspiracy may be behind this.”

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had yesterday said AAP supporters “clapped and raised slogans” as Singh stood atop a tree with a towel fashioned as noose tied around his neck. The Delhi police’s FIR too alleged they “instigated” the farmer to commit suicide and thwarted their attempts to save him.

Gajendra’s uncle, Gopal Singh, the village Sarpanch, demanded a CBI probe into the incident.

“We have doubts about this incident and demand a CBI inquiry in the case. We have asked (state) minister Rajendra Rathore to take up this matter with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh,” Gopal Singh told PTI.

Referring to the turf war between Delhi police and his government over a parallel magisterial probe, Kejriwal said he was prepared to file his statement to the police, if needed.

The Delhi police had yesterday claimed a magistrate had no jurisdiction to investigate the case already being probed by the police. District Magistrate Sanjay Kumar had, however, said it was incumbent upon the police to cooperate in the inquiry as CrPC provided for the police informing the nearest executive magistrate in case of a suicide who will then hold a parallel probe.

“District Magistrate has the jurisdiction to investigate under the CrPC and the police does criminal investigation based on FIR…if police calls me I will go to file my statement,” Kejriwal said, striking a conciliatory note.

The Delhi Chief Minister also softened his party’s stand that the police personnel at the rally venue were mute spectators to the tragic incident and made no efforts to save Singh.

“We should not say that all policemen are bad. Should not indulge in blame game. I believe if police had the slightest inkling they would have tried to save him. They must have genuinely thought nothing of that sort was taking place,” he said.

The incident, Kejriwal said, caused him to lose sleep. “I am saying this happened in front of the Delhi CM. I couldn’t sleep the whole night,” he said.

Meanwhile, Rajasthan health minister Rajendra Rathore handed over a cheque for Rs 4 lakh to the family on the behalf of BJP.

Gajendra’s uncle told journalists that the family has demanded the status of a ‘Shaheed’ (martyr) for him and sought the scheme for providing relief to distressed farmers to be named after him.

The family also discussed with the state minister arrangements for providing good education to Gajendra’s children and a government job to one of his family members. Gopal Singh said the minister assured the distraught family that he would take up the issue with Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. Gajendra is survived by his wife and three children.

 (PTI)

AAP to pay Rs.10 lakh to farmer's family

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aap-kisan-rally-man-tree-suicide

New Delhi: Delhi’s ruling AAP announced on Thursday a compensation of Rs.10 lakh to the family of a Rajasthan farmer who killed himself at a party rally here a day earlier.

Making the announcement, Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh said that his party activists tried but failed to save Gajendra Singh after he hanged himself from a tree at the site.

He added that Delhi Police were very much to blame for the death on Wednesday because they failed to intervene despite repeated appeals from AAP leaders.

“The truth of what happened (yesterday) is captured on your cameras,” Sanjay Singh told the media. “The way the police acted was insensitive and incompetent.”

The AAP leader accused the central government, which controls Delhi Police, of hoisting a concocted case against the AAP over the death of the farmer.

The dramatic suicide took place at a rally in the heart of the capital called by the AAP to denounce the land ordinance.

(IANS)

Congress, BJP protest against farmer's suicide in Delhi

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farmers_suicide

New Delhi: A day after a farmer committed suicide at an AAP rally , Youth Congress workers today staged a demonstration at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence while BJP workers protested at Delhi Police headquarters demanding action against the rally organisers.

Scores of slogan shouting Youth Congress protesters, who were carrying placards demanding Kejriwal’s resignation , reached the Chief Minister’s Flagstaff Road residence at Civil Lines in North Delhi here around 10 AM.

After they were stopped by the police which had erected barricades, the protesters burnt an effigy of Kejriwal.

“They (AAP) should have stopped the rally and must have tried to save the farmer. The Chief Minister should resign from his post,” said one of the protesters.

The Delhi BJP, which had planned a protest march from ITO to Kejriwal’s residence around the same time, staged a protest at Delhi Police Headquarters in central Delhi where police used water canons to disperse them.

Delhi BJP Chief Satish Upadhyay alleged that there was a conspiracy behind the incident and demanded that the organisers of the rally be booked for murder.

BJP workers including Upadhyay and senior leader Jagdish Mukhi were detained by the police and taken to the nearby police station in a bus.

“It is not a suicide but a conspiracy. People there instigated him to commit suicide. He had joined AAP six months ago. Manish Sisodia had invited him here. One of the AAP MLAs tweeted a condolence message 20 minutes before his death,” Upadhyay alleged.

“You continued your rally for 45 minutes even after the death of the farmer. You did not stop your rally. This is a motivated murder and everybody responsible in this case should be booked under charges of murder,” he added.

(PTI)

 

AAP expels Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan and 2 others

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Dissident AAP leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav at a news confrence at Press Club in New Delhi. (Arvind Yadav/ HT Photo)

Dissident AAP leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav at a news confrence at Press Club in New Delhi. (Arvind Yadav/ HT Photo)

New Delhi: Cracking the whip, AAP tonight expelled rebel leaders Prashant Bhusan, Yogendra Yadav and two others for anti-party activities and “gross indiscipline”, two days after issuing a show-cause notice to them.

The decision to sack them from the party was taken by the national disciplinary committee which said as it was not satisfied with the response it got to the show-cause notice.

“The party’s national disciplinary committee has taken a decision to expel Prashant Bhusan, Yogendra Yadav, Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha. They were expelled for gross indiscipline, anti-party activities and violation of code of conduct of the party,” said party spokesperson Deepak Bajpai.

The rebels were given show-cause notice on April 17 to explain the reason for organising ‘Swaraj Samwad’. Bhushan was charged with working for party’s defeat in the Delhi assembly polls. He was also charged with supporting AWAM, a break away group of the party.

Three of them responded to the notice except Jha.In their response to the notice, the rebels today accused party chief Arvind Kejriwal of “gross violation” of its constitution and attacked two members of its disciplinary panel for allegedly doing a “planted” story and accepting donations from dubious firms.

Responding to show-cause notices issued by AAP’s National Disciplinary Committee (NDC), Bhushan and Yadav questioned its locus standi for seeking their reply, saying the panel was formed after the “illegal” and “unconstitutional” meeting of the party’s National Council on March 28.

AAP said in a statement,”National Disciplinary Committee met on April 20 at VP House to decide on the complaints against Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan, Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha.”On the request of the respondents, the Committee had earlier extended the deadline for submitting their explanations by one day, that is, to 3 PM on April 20.

“However, the committee received the responses of Yadav, Bhushan and Kumar while Jha failed to furnish his response within the prescribed time.” The Committee carefully considered responses furnished by Yadav, Bhushan and Kumar and found them “unsatisfactory”, the statement said.

The party said that the rebels indulged in anti-party activities. “The Committee reached the unanimous conclusion that Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan and Anand Kumar had indulged in gross indiscipline and anti-party activities. “They have violated the Code of Conduct detailed in Article VI A (a) of Party’s Constitution. The Committee is of the view that Ajit Jha failed to furnish his response in stipulated time despite sufficient time to his disposal.

“After examining the evidence put before it, the Committee is of unanimous view that Ajit Jha is also guilty of gross indiscipline and indulging into anti-party activities.

“The Committee, therefore, has decided to expel all the four members from the party,” said the party statement. Bhushan and Yadav were removed from AAP’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC) on March 4.

Both the camps–one headed by Kejriwal and second by the rebel duo– resorted to talks, but the negotiations failed after which Bhushan, Yadav, Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha were removed from National Executive, AAP’s highest decision-making body.

The rebel leaders had then organised Swaraj Samvad convention on April 17. Falling short of declaring a new political outfit, the rebel camp announced of starting of Swaraj Abhiyan across the country.

Bhushan and Yadav were one of the founder leaders of the AAP. The activist-lawyer had raised several anti-corruption issues and was a key-aide of Kejriwal since its the Anna movement while Yadav went to become party’s chief spokesperson and had chalked out its policy on various issues.

(PTI)

Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan hold Swaraj Samwad

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Dissident AAP leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav at a news confrence at Press Club in New Delhi. (Arvind Yadav/ HT Photo)

Dissident AAP leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav at a news confrence at Press Club in New Delhi. (Arvind Yadav/ HT Photo)

New Delhi: The convention of rebel AAP leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan began this morning with volunteers from across the country terming it a day of “new beginning” even as the Arvind Kejriwal-led party warned of action against those attending the event.

Yadav and Bhushan had announced their decision of holding the dialogue, ‘Swaraj Samwad’, to discuss the future course of action after their expulsion from AAP’s top echelons, triggering speculations of floating a new party.

Before the session began at around 10 a.m, Yadav told reporters “I am sure we would witness something new here”.

“It’s a day of new beginning. AAP Constitution gives an ordinary member of the party, the freedom of expression which no other party gives and if the workers are using that freedom I am sure the party would respect it. I am not sure if the party has changed its own constitution,” he said.

At the convention, key leaders who were seen on stage include the four expelled members from AAP’s National Executive–Yadav, Bhushan, Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha–Timarpur MLA Pankaj Pushkar and several Lok Sabha candidates from various states.

“Our party is new. Different people have different opinions on discipline. I believe that today’s meeting is in line with the ideals of our party,” Pushkar said.

One hour into the meeting, an audio message of Admiral L Ramdas’s, who was recently removed from the post of party’s internal Lokpal, was played out from the stage.

In the message Ramdas said that a samwad cannot be seen as an “anti party activity” and that people must be allowed to speak in a democracy.

“I don’t belong to any particular faction of AAP. For me there is just one AAP…the party’s principle and image has been hurt most in the strong arm tactics that have been used and we have miserably failed as a party which was formed on the principles of swaraj,” he said adding his apology for not being present in the meeting that is underway in Gurgaon.

In a veiled threat, senior party leader Sanjay Singh said AAP’s all-powerful Political Affairs Committee (PAC) and its National Executive (NE) would decide the next move in this regard after the meeting.

“Swaraj Samwad is not a party function. The PAC and NE will decide on what action needs to be taken after the meeting,” Singh said.

(Agencies)

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