For administrative coordination, a meeting of the Chief Minister and the Lieutenant Governor is to be held every Friday. (file)
New Delhi:
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena for his regular Friday meeting – significant as he did not meet on the last three Fridays after the CBI raid on Kejriwal’s deputy Manish Sisodia.
He later said that the 40-minute meeting was “held in a cordial atmosphere”.
They last met on August 12, but did not meet on August 19, the day the CBI raided Mr. Sisodia’s house over an alleged scam in the liquor policy. Mr Saxena had ordered an inquiry in July. AAP says that all this is a trick of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP government through the Lieutenant Governor.
The next Friday, August 26, the AAP leader was in PM Modi’s home state Gujarat for the election campaign. And on 2nd September also no meeting took place.
Regular administrative matters were to be discussed in the meeting today. Its agenda is not shared with the media, but Mr. Kejriwal later told reporters: “I requested the LG sir to fix the MCD a bit together so that Delhi is clean.” MCD (Delhi Municipal Corporation) is controlled by BJP.
Mr Saxena or his office did not issue a statement about the specifics of the meeting.
Asked about the recent lines, Mr Kejriwal said, “Whatever happened is unfortunate and I am hopeful that the situation should improve.” On not meeting him for the last few Fridays, he said, “I was not in Delhi by chance. Today’s meeting was held in a very good atmosphere.”
A lot has happened between AAP and the Centre-appointed Lt Governor since the CBI raids on the new excise policy. The policy that brought private players into the liquor trade was in force for eight months before being withdrawn in July, when the Lieutenant Governor ordered a CBI probe.
The AAP – apart from seeing “a ploy by PM Modi and the BJP” – also directly hit back at VK Saxena, as well as his seven-year tenure as the Khadi and Village Industries Commission, just before he got the Delhi post. Started.
The exchange of anger through press conferences, letters and tweets has since become an almost daily affair, punctuated by dramatic moments for the camera.
When Mr. Saxena sent a defamation notice to AAP leaders, one of them, Sanjay Singh, a Rajya Sabha member, Torn it to pieces on video. The AAP government also held a special session to outline its majority in the assembly, where speeches were made that claimed scam allegations were made to stall AAP’s national expansion under Mr Kejriwal.
Mr. Saxena denied any wrongdoing During his Khadi Commission tenure, saying that AAP is giving wrong figures about the contract given to his daughter to design a Khadi lounge in Mumbai.
A big question at the heart of this fight, meanwhile, lies in the Supreme Court – who has more power between the elected government and the lieutenant governor.
The Constitution Bench last heard the matter on September 7. This happened on the day when Sanjay Singh of AAP tore the notice of Mr. Saxena.
The court fixed October 11 as the likely next date of hearing.