Congress leader Ajay Maken has once more expressed his opinion on the ongoing conflict between the Central government and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi regarding services. In a lengthy Twitter post, the former Union minister outlined various reasons, spanning administrative and legal aspects, to oppose the endorsement of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s stance against the Centre’s ordinance.
“First, by backing Kejriwal, we are going against the decisions and wisdom of numerous respected leaders: Baba Sahib Ambedkar on 21st October 1947, Pandit Nehru and Sardar Patel in 1951, another decision of Pt Nehru in 1956, Lal Bahadur Shastri Ji as Home Minister in 1964 and as Prime Minister in 1965, and Sh. Narasimha Rao in 1991,” wrote Maken.
Maken highlighted that if the ordinance fails to be passed in the Rajya Sabha, it would grant Kejriwal a special privilege that previous Chief Ministers like Sheila Dikshit, Madan Lal Khurana, Sahib Singh Verma, and Sushma Swaraj were not granted.
“Kejriwal seeks the support of the Congress Party. However, his past political engagements raise some questions. His party, along with the BJP, passed a resolution requesting the Union Government to withdraw Bharat Ratna from our beloved Rajiv Ji. Moreover, Kejriwal backed the BJP both inside and outside of Parliament on the Jammu & Kashmir issue. This support came when J&K was divided and reduced to a union territory, leaving its people disenfranchised for five years.
Kejriwal’s support for the BJP in Gujarat, Goa, Himachal, Assam, Uttarakhand, and in the recent Karnataka elections, where he fielded candidates against the Congress Party, also begs the question – Why only in states where Congress is the primary opposition or ruling party?” he said.
From the legal standpoint, para 95 of a recent Supreme Court decision allows the Union Government to modify the law, highlighted Maken.
“It states, ‘However, if Parliament enacts a law granting executive power on any subject within the domain of NCTD, the executive power of the Lieutenant Governor shall be modified to the extent, as provided in that law’,” he wrote.
He signed off with, “…if all the previous Delhi Chief Ministers could perform their roles without fuss, why is Kejriwal stirring up chaos now? Is this mere political posturing? Unfortunately, it’s Delhi that bears the brunt of this unrest. In this turmoil, Delhi suffers the most.”
In another tweet, Maken had shared his own experiences as a minister in the Sheila Dikshit government in Delhi during the BJP-led NDA regime at the centre in early 2000s, recalling how they worked with the bureaucracy to get things done in Delhi’s interest.
“I hope the current Chief Minister takes note of this journey and learns from it. Engage with officers respectfully, hold dialogues, and persuade them for Delhi’s advancement. They will certainly align with your vision if it’s sincere,” he wrote.