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Arvind Kejriwal, Nitish Kumar take on Modi

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nitish-kejriwal

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday extended his support to JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar for upcoming Bihar Assembly elections while also felicitating the latter during Bihar Samman Samaroh in Delhi.

Addressing the gathering, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar thanked Kejriwal for inviting him at Bihar Samman Samaroh.

“It’s good that people have voted for AAP. Arvind Kejriwal is a right choice for Delhi. 67 out of 70 seats is a surprising mandate. And, AAP got this mandate when PM Modi had said that Delhi’s mood was same as that of nation’s and vice versa. After Delhi has shown its mood, PM Modi is trying hard for Bihar,” said Nitish.

Further, extending his support to Bihar CM, Arvind Kejriwal assured him that he will go to Bihar whenever Nitish will call him.

“Before elections PM Modi says something and post elections something else. Had he announced before during Rewari rally that OROP scheme will take some time to be implemented, he wouldn’t have got votes,” said Kejriwal.

“Two days back we heard PM saying in Bihar 50…60…70 thousand crore. Was he there to sell Bihar? If they (govt) have so much money then PM should first go and implement OROP scheme,” Kejriwal slammed Modi govt on Bihar package.

(Agencies)

Enhanced ex-gratia for 1984 victims from Monday: Arvind Kejriwal

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Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Saturday that the enhanced ex-gratia amount of Rs.5 lakh to the kin of the 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims will be distributed from Monday.

Delivering his first Independence Day speech as chief minister, the Aam Aadmi Party leader also praised Home Minister Rajnath Singh for making efforts to secure the enhanced compensation and said he would request the minister to give away the first cheque. “The first cheque will be distributed on Monday,” Kejriwal said.

“I appreciate Rajnath Singh’s efforts behind the enhanced compensation. I will try to have the first cheque given away by Rajnath Singh,” he said. As per official records, 3,325 people were killed in riots that broke out across the country after two Sikh bodyguards shot dead then prime minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, triggering mob attacks on innocent Sikhs. Of them, 2,733 were killed in Delhi, which was the worst hit in the mayhem. Killings also took place in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan among other states.

In 2006, the UPA government announced a Rs.717 crore rehabilitation package for the riot victims. Of this, only Rs.517 crore was disbursed and the remaining Rs.200 crore got bogged down because of disputes over claimants. An additional relief of Rs.5 lakh was announced by Rajnath Singh in October last year.

(IANS)

Advani cancels meeting with Kejriwal

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Advani-Kejriwal

New Delhi: Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader Lal Krishna Advani cancelled his meeting with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal scheduled for Friday evening.

According to informed sources, the meeting was cancelled following pressure from the BJP.

“To save party from further embarrassment, it was decided that the BJP leader should not meet the Delhi CM,” a BJP source told IANS.

Already in the line of opposition’s fire over the Lalit Modi issue, the ruling BJP was further driven to a corner over remarks of party senior leader L.K. Advani that he did not rule out another “Emergency-like situation” in the country.

Kejriwal was among the first to respond to Advani’s interview published in the Indian Express.

“Advani ji is correct in saying that emergency can’t be ruled out. Is Delhi their first experiment?” he tweeted in an apparent reference to his ugly power tussle with the Centre.

After Advani’s remark, Kejriwal sought a meeting with him. Advani earlier agreed to meet him on Friday evening.

(IANS)

Caliph Umar’s governance impressed me; will try to follow him: Arvind Kejriwal

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Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: Stating that he was deeply impressed by the governance of Hazrat Umar bin Khattab, Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, said that he would try to emulate the second Caliph of the Muslims for the betterment of the people.

Mr Kejriwal was addressing a personality development workshop conducted by the India Islamic International Centre in collaboration with Nobel Education Foundation, here.

“I am extremely impressed by the governance of Caliph Umar and will try to follow his model of governance for the betterment of people,” Mr Kejriwal said.

His comments were in response to Aateqa Siddiqui, a girl student, who presented a book on the governance of Caliph Umar.

Mr Kejriwal reiterated that he would study the whole book and try to implement the model of Caliph Umar.

Kejriwal lashes out at MHA notification, says Modi govt trying to run Delhi through backdoor

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Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: After being issued a notification from the Home Ministry detailing just what powers he actually had, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal hit back alleging that the notification was an attempt to protect the corrupt and that the Narendra Modi government was trying to run the Delhi government through the Lieutenant-Governor.

The Delhi chief minister called the Centre’s notification “a gift from the Modi government for completing a year in office” and clarifying his relationship with the Lieutenant Governor, Kejriwal said “Jung saab ke saath koi Jung nahi hai” (There is no war with Jung).

However, he said that Lieutenant Governor has no actual powers as all his orders come from the top.

“Pre independence, Queen of England used to send notifications to the Viceroy here. Now, Jung Sahab is Viceroy & PMO is London. All orders come from the PMO,” Kejriwal said.

Continuing his attack on the Modi government, he went on to state that the notification proved that Modi with his 3 BJP MLA’s is trying to control the Delhi government through the backdoor.

“The BJP and Congress want to have their own officers in Delhi and get government contracts for their own people,” he alleged.

The Centre on Friday morning issued a notification which backed Jung and said that it was not mandatory for the Lieutenant Governor to consult the Chief Minister.

Kejriwal alleged that issuing the notification was very ‘unfair’ towards the people of Delhi, and said that the AAP government is doing very good work.

“We want to ask the Narendra Modi government, who are they trying to save through this notification?” he said

Kejriwal alleged that the government is rattled by the action taken by the Delhi government against corrupt officers and was attempting to protect corrupt officials by issuing the notification.

“They are saying that we can’t take any action against corrupt official in the central government,” he said.

Shifting his focus on Najeeb Jung, Kejriwal said, “The Lieutenant Governor has never asked about water or electricity, all they are interested in is transfer posting.”

He also added that it is because of the AAP government that a lot of money being paid for transfers has ended, a statement his deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia had made earlier.

“Probably the AAP government is one of the cleanest governments Delhi has ever seen,” Kejriwal said.

(Agencies)

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)

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