CM to boycott Niti Aayog meeting today

NEW DELHI: Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Friday that he would boycott the governing council meeting of Niti Aayog on Saturday over the recent ordinance promulgated by the Centre on control of services in the national capital.
In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kejriwal said there was no point in attending the meeting when "constitutional norms and democratic principles" were being "disregarded" by the Centre and the concept of "cooperative federalism had (been) turned into a joke".
He urged the PM to allow free functioning of non-BJP governments and requested him to respect the orders of Supreme Court.
The central government brought an ordinance last week taking back the elected government's executive control over the bureaucracy in Delhi that had earlier been given to it by a Constitution bench of Supreme Court through a verdict on May 11.
Referring to the judgement, which gave control over transfer and posting of bureaucrats working in the capital to the elected dispensation, the Delhi CM said the AAP government had managed to get justice after a struggle of eight years but the Centre overturned it by bringing an ordinance in just eight days.
"The non-BJP governments are being toppled either by buying legislators or with the threat of central probe agencies like ED and CBI. If the MLAs do not accept money or buckle under threats, the government is prevented from working either by bringing an ordinance or through the governor," Kejriwal said, referring to the elected government's ongoing tussle with the lieutenant governor.
Kejriwal said the elected government of Delhi cannot take action against an officer if he refuses to work and wondered how a government can work like this. "This is completely paralysing the government. Why do you want to paralyse the Delhi government? Is this the vision of India, is this cooperative federalism?" he asked in the letter, adding that the ordinance was being opposed by people across the country and people were asking where would they go for justice if even the PM did not follow Supreme Court orders.
The AAP national convener observed that the PM of the country was like a father and elder brother of the family and irrespective of the party ruling a state, he should take everybody along.
"The country will progress when all the people, all the states and all the governments work together. If you support only the BJP governments and stop non-BJP governments from working, it will halt progress of the country," Kejriwal said, requesting Modi to "let the non-BJP governments work and respect the Supreme Court orders".
The AAP convener said there was no point in attending the Niti Aayog meeting when the Constitution and democracy are being openly violated. "Cooperative federalism is being rendered as a joke. People are saying that we should not go to the Niti Aayog meeting tomorrow. Therefore, it will not be possible for me to attend the meeting," he said.
Reacting to the letter, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva alleged that Kejriwal was suffering from "political frustration" and asked him to discharge his responsibilities by "keeping administrative responsibility and political opposition" separate.
"The language of the letter clearly shows that he is a victim of political depression. It is beyond comprehension what message the chief minister wanted to convey to the people of Delhi by comparing the Niti Aayog meeting and the political scenario," Sachdeva said.