This strongly worded resolution made it clear that the AAP government saw itself pitted against the BJP-led Centre itself, for which Jung is a mere proxy.
The two-day 'emergency' Assembly session called by the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi kicked off on Tuesday with many uproars in the House as chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his party MLAs sought to curb the powers of the lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung. The session was called in response to the May 21 notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, that gave the LG powers above the elected government in appointing bureaucrats and bypassing the chiefminister.
A private members' resolution was moved by AAP MLA Somnath Bharti in the AAP-dominated assembly that strongly condemned the notification, calling it “unconstitutional”, “an illegal and invalid exercise of powers on the part of the [Union] ministry of home affairs”. Further “this House finds this act of Ministry of Home Affairs as an attempt on the part of the Central government, to encroach upon the legislative powers of this august House conferred by the Constitution, in a completely unconstitutional and illegal manner, by bypassing Parliament and thereby even grabbing the powers of Parliament itself.”
This strongly worded resolution made it clear that the AAP government saw itself pitted against the BJP-led Centre itself, for which Jung is a mere proxy.
Strangely, this came right after Kejriwal met Jung, for the first time in person since matters escalated over the appointment of top bureaucrats in the Delhi Secretariat, right before the Assembly session.
AAP MLA Adarsh Shastri went a step further, seeking an amendment to section 155 in the Constitution from Parliament to give the Assembly powers to impeach the LG, in the vein of the Parliament’s powers to impeach the President.
However, the party soon clarified that Shastri was not aiming to move any resolution to such effect and this was his personal opinion.
The day was anything but calm, with the House being set verbally and literally on fire. A minor fire actually broke out in health minister Satyendra Jain’s office at the Vidhan Sabha, though there were no casualties.
Meanwhile, in the Assembly much hyperbole was deployed. AAP MLA Bhavna Gaur said that India would soon see a second “independence day” when states would rise against “central interference”. AAP MLA Alka Lamba caused a ruckus in the House when she said that the Anti Corruption Bureau’s arms could reach the LG’s neck itself and then accused the PMO of being bribed by the LG and industrialists such as the Ambanis. The three BJP MLAs in the House vociferously protested, demanding that Lamba apologise.
The speaker Ram Niwas Goel, trying to control the House even told BJP MLA to sit down as the Delhi High Court had already landed his party a “slap on the face”, referring to Monday’s HC order that gave the ACB back powers that the Centre had stripped it off. Matters escalated when BJP MLA Om Prakash Sharma got into a verbal spat with the SPeaker, asking him to step down from the chair as he was not worthy of it. The speaker responded by calling marshalls to expel Sharma from the House.
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