It's time someone exposes Kejriwal
Why should the people of Delhi suffer?
No, these are not my lines. The lines are borrowed from a full page newspaper ad, brought out by the Aam Aadmi Party in July 2016. Part of the ad read - "The Government of India has suddenly transferred senior officers in charge of important departments outside Delhi, without consulting the elected government of Delhi."
It said the Centre's move to transfer senior bureaucrats has led to stalling of development work relating to modernisation of schools, installation of CCTV cameras, development of roads, drainage and sewerage in unauthorised colonies, among others.
The timing of the ad is remarkable - it was brought out just after former Delhi principal secretary Rajendra Kumar's arrest in a corruption case. The stand of a self-declared and certified "anti-corruption" party should have been surprising. The Delhi CM had assured us of being consulted in the event of a big decision.
Did he ask the people before spending tax money of Delhiites to threaten the Centre in a full page newspaper ad for acting against someone arrested on charges of corruption? He could have waited for the inquiry - what was the hurry?
We shall overlook the recent observations of the Shunglu committee that Rajendra Kumar was directed to hold additional charge (of services and general administration). This decision facilitated many subsequent actions which may not have been otherwise possible. Never mind that as a concurrent list subject, "services" does not even belong in the Delhi government's purview.
Arvind Kejriwal's mad rush to position AAP as an alternative to the BJP saw him splurge almost Rs 30 crore on radio and newspaper ads outside Delhi. That too in states such as Maharashtra, Goa and Tamil Nadu, among others! That is what the CAG report stated.
The CAG report also said the stated amount was nearly 86 per cent of the total budget for its media campaign celebrating the completion of AAP's one year in power. Maharashtra is not even poll bound now, so was it promotion or something else?
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| It appears that bluster does not equate legality. |
That present LG of Delhi, Anil Baijal, has asked the Delhi government to pay the Rs 97 crore it spent on certain advertisements is altogether another issue. The committee on content regulation in government advertising found that the ads were used to promote the party instead of the government and recommended action.
Then the issue of doctored EVMs came up. The BSP was wiped out in UP and jumped on the anti-EVM bandwagon, the Congress joined in and the Delhi CM saw an opportunity. Even when the Election Commission said they were free to test the EVMs, there was no stopping his bluster.
It is time someone calls his bluff - let's take a guess that nobody from AAP will turn up to carry out the tests on EVMs because it is not about EVMs, it is not about CBI, it is not about corruption, it is not about women's security or CCTV cameras or appointment of secretaries, it is and never was about the aam aadmi, it was and is only about the Delhi CM, his ego, judgment and ambition.
So it appears that bluster does not equate legality. Kejriwal has some half a dozen defamation cases against him, including the very publicised one against Arun Jaitley. Deputy CM Manish Sisodia had cleared the payment of legal fee from the state coffers.
So what happens in the other cases? May be the Delhi deputy CM wishes that Delhiites should pay through their nose for their non-working CM's unsubstantiated comments for anyone questioning him.
He demands respect but says the PM is "a coward and a psychopath", calls the CBI a liar and terms the Election Commission biased against his hallowed party. It is a good thing that every fetid utterance of the Delhi CM does not draw a defamation notice - otherwise you may as well see a major chunk of taxpayers' money being routed to pay the CM's legal costs.