Both the CMs were speaking at the first-of-its-kind chief ministers' conclave on Wednesday that was organised by the AAP government for a discussion on 'cooperative federalism'.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee has found a common enemy in the Centre, who they alleged, has not only been curtailing the power of the states, but also been donning the hat of the judiciary.
Both the CMs were speaking at the first-of-its-kind chief ministers' conclave on Wednesday that was organised by the AAP government for a discussion on 'cooperative federalism'.
The 'apolitical' event, however, garnered a lukewarm response with most chief ministers opting out of it and political rivals Banerjee and Tripura CM Manik Sarkar making a concerted effort to avoid each other, with Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Mizoram's Lal Thanhawlal and Puducherry's N Rangaswamy doing away by sending letters of support to the Delhi CM.
Taking a dig at the Centre and accusing the NDA regimeof snatching away powers of the elected state governments in the guise of the lieutenant governors, both the CMs demanded decentralization of power to the states, calling for the Central government to move beyond party politics.
"It is not possible to control everything sitting here in Delhi. The Centre should empower states, which would help the Centre in turn,"said Kejriwal, addressing a crowd of nearly 100 people.
He also blamed the Centre for meagre allocation of funds to the states as well as adopting arm-twisting methods to deal with the states using national agencies like CBI.
"If we want to build schools and hospitals for the people of Delhi, but even for that we will have to buy land from DDA (Centre) at Rs4 crore per acre,"he said.
Bringing his turf war with the LG Najeeb Jung to the fore, Kejriwal said nearly 30 AAP government orders "null and void" by the LG."This has happened for the first time in the country's history," Kejriwal said.
On the lines of Kejriwal, Banerjee, too, accused the Centre of running a parellel government through governors, fostering a communal environment and using party politics for governance.
"When two people died in West Bengal, NIA was immediately sent there, but when 100 people died in Madhya Pradesh, the Centre chose to remain quiet because it is a BJP-ruled state,"Banerjee said.
She alleged that the central government has cancelled 39 schemes of the WB government. "The Centre should not stop development work. Loktantra is taking people into confidence, not bulldozing them,"Banerjee told the crowd, adding that in a federal structure, it is important for all institutions to ensure that nobody crosses the Laxman Rekha between the Centre and the states as defined by the Constitution.
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 "Arvind Kejriwal and Mamata Banerjee find common enemy in Centre at CM's conclave")
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