Manish Sisodia alleges Lt Governor’s decisions are “politically motivated”
New Delhi:
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has alleged that the Lieutenant Governor is taking “politically motivated” decisions by ordering probe into various issues one after the other.
Mr Sisodia’s remarks came after Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena probed “irregularities and discrepancies” in the power subsidy given by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party government to the chief secretary and submitted a report in seven days.
Almost three months after Mr Saxena allowed a CBI probe into Delhi’s liquor policy, Mr Sisodia is an accused.
In a letter to the Lieutenant Governor, Mr Sisodia told Mr Saxena that he was bypassing the elected government of Delhi and ordering an “illegal and unconstitutional” probe.
“You have no right to give orders in any matter other than land, police, public order and services,” Sisodia wrote in the letter.
The AAP leader said, “All your orders are politically motivated. Nothing has come out in any investigation so far. I request you to act as per the Constitution.”
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took a jibe at the order to probe AAP’s power subsidy scheme, saying the latest probe order is BJP’s move against AAP’s expansion. “Gujarat is loving AAP’s free electricity guarantee,” Kejriwal tweeted. That’s why BJP wants to stop free electricity in Delhi, he said.
Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state where the BJP has been in power for more than two decades, has elections later this year. AAP is targeting it as its third base after Delhi and Punjab.
The alleged scam in Delhi’s electricity subsidy pertains to payments made by the state government to companies supplying electricity to the city.
Delhi has 58 lakh household electricity consumers, of whom 47 lakh use subsidies – of which 30 lakh are not billed as consuming less than 200 units. About 17 lakh get 50 percent subsidy, which is for consumption up to 400 units. For this the government pays the companies.
In July, the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi ordered a CBI probe into the excise policy that brought private players into the liquor trade in the national capital.