'You have started taking governance in Delhi seriously': Arvind Kejriwal in response to LG's invitation to meeting

NEW DELHI: Delhi lieutenant governor Vinai Kumar Saxena on Monday invited chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for a meeting to discuss the provisions governing administration in the national capital.
In a letter to Kejriwal, the LG asked the CM to hold regular meetings for "conflict-free" governance in the interest of Delhiites.

While accepting the invitation of lieutenant governor, the chief minister wrote, “It the beginning of your letter, you have sarcastically mentioned "....you have started taking governance in the city seriously ..." after my election campaigns. AAP is a national party and as its national convenor, I have to attend elections campaigns in different parts of the country. Hon'ble Prime Minister, hon'ble home minister and many BJP chief ministers like Yogi Adityanath ji, Shivraj Singh ji, Pushkar Dhami ji etc were also campaigning for their party at that time in Gujarat and Delhi. Thank you for inviting me for discussions. I will definitely come. I will fix up a convenient time with your office”.

The LG's office and the AAP government in Delhi have often found themselves at loggerheads over various issues, including the now-scrapped excise policy.
Kejriwal, in his recent letters to Saxena, questioned the nomination of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi's (MCD) presiding officer and aldermen as well as members of the Haj committee, saying if LG as "administrator" meant ignoring the elected government in Delhi.
In his letter, Saxena said the provisions governing administration in Delhi "... are amply clear for any practitioner of statecraft, lawyer and scholar as indeed a common citizen. I would like to invite you for a meeting where we could discuss issues threadbare".
He said the provisions governing administration in Delhi emanate out of serious deliberations in Constituent Assembly, State Reorganisation Commission and Parliament.
They have also been clearly interpreted by the Supreme Court on several occasions, he added.
Citing various letters sent by the chief minister to him over the past few days, Saxena appreciated Kejriwal for "having started taking governance in the city seriously".
The LG said the chief minister used to meet him regularly till October 2022 but later he expressed his inability to do so due to his preoccupation with assembly and municipal polls.
Since the polls are over, the meetings should be resumed for "deliberative and conflict-free" governance of the city in the interest of the people, Saxena said.
The Chief Minister's Office may fix any mutually convenient date for a meeting, he said.
(With inputs from PTI)