Special session sees shrill protest against MHA’s ‘Talibani’ notification
Kejriwal says: If we took some money and gave some upstairs, MHA notification would not have come
Deputy CM Manish Sisodia said the Centre’s notification is an insult to the Constitution. (Source: Express photo by Ravi Kanojia)
On a day when the battle between the Delhi government and Centre reached the Supreme Court, AAP legislators followed the lead of their chief minister and launched an attack on the BJP led government at the Centre. While most speakers came around to calling the MHA notification which gives the Lt-Governor sway over “services” illegal and unconstitutional, speakers from the AAP approached the subject in different ways — from Mahendra Goyal tearing up the notification to Sisodia calling it “Talibani”, and chief whip Jagdeep Singh using the example of Nripendra Mishra.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who had initiated the debate on the notification on Tuesday, said, “This notification is an insult to our Constitution. It is a Talibani notification. They are afraid of our 100-day work. For the first time, Delhi has got such a chief minister who can confidently say that he will not allow graft in any department.”
[related-post]
The Aam Aadmi Party’s chief whip, Jagdeep Singh, MLA from Hari Nagar, said, “I want to point out the double standards. When the prime minister wants a senior officer like Nripendra Mishra, he brings an ordinance and does everything he can. Does a Chief Minister not have the right to appoint his own officers in the same way?”
In an angry speech of his own, Arvind Kejriwal also said that by attempting to take away the powers of the ACB to act against Central government officers, “they (the Centre) have given the corrupt a license”.
“In my office, if a central government officer takes money, what will I be able to do? If we took some money, and gave some upstairs, this notification would not have come.”
Asking his officers to work without fear under the directions of the Delhi government, Kejriwal said, “I want to assure all officers. The Delhi government stands behind you. Work without fear. Lets see if anyone dare lay their eyes on you.”
On their part, the BJP legislators in the house said the AAP was exaggerating the issue and if there was a problem with the notification, the option to approach the courts was always available. BJP MLA Om Prakash said, “They have brought this notification to distract people from the issues of power, water, and the controversies they are embroiled in like the issue of the Law Ministers degree.”
Outside the Assembly, BJP Delhi chief Satish Upadhyay said, “When we hear the words ‘special session’, it transpires that some emergency has arisen before the government. During the last 68 years, the nation has worked on this line and hardly once or twice a special session of any State Assembly or the Parliament has been called but the two days special session called by Arvind Kejriwal government has concluded and Delhi fails to understand why it was called ?”
Share
