BJP defends Centre issued ordinance, says 'Delhi UT not Arvind Territory’
2 min read . Updated: 20 May 2023, 07:01 PM IST
PremiumBJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia launched a sharp attack on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal following his denouncement of the Centre for bringing the ordinance
The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) led government at the Centre issued an ordinance on the transfer and posting of government officers in Delhi. BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia defended the move and said it was in consonance with the Constitution and in line with the Supreme Court's observations in the matter.
The move comes three days after Supreme Court of India ruled that if the Lieutenant governor of national capital Delhi is given the power to nominate aldermen in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), it would in turn mean that he can destabilise an elected civic body.
BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia launched a sharp attack on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal following his denouncement of the Centre for bringing the ordinance, which seeks to negate the apex court order giving the authority over officers to the elected government, saying his ideology is against the Constitution and is anarchic.
The BJP spokesperson said that the ordinance involved aspects which were also in the interest of the common man.
The ordinance, which has to be ratified by Parliament within six months, is in public interest, Bhatia claimed, accusing the Kejriwal government of harassing and intimidating officer to suppress facts related to the "liquor scam" and the alleged irregularities in expenditure on the chief minister's residence.
"You read neither the Constitution nor the Supreme Court judgement. You think whatever the tyrant Arvind Kejriwal says is above the country's Constitution," Bhatia said at a press conference.
Noting that Delhi is a Union Territory, he referred to Article 239AA to assert Parliament's power over the region. Delhi is not "Arvind Territory" and it will be run by the Constitution not his whims, the BJP leader said.
Making light of the AAP leader's claim that the Centre deliberately brought the ordinance at a time when the Supreme Court is on a summer break so that a legal challenge to it could not be pursued quickly, he said the vacation bench is there.
Meanwhile, senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday said that the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi began ‘flexing its muscles’ soon after the SC verdict and shifted the IAS officer investigating alleged discrepancies in the renovation of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence.
Earlier, Kejriwal said, "The Centre's ordinance on services matter is unconstitutional and against democracy. We will approach the Supreme Court against it. The Centre brought the ordinance to overturn the Supreme Court verdict on services matter just hours after the apex court has shut for vacation."
It is a direct contempt of the apex court, he charged.