M A I N   N E W S

Kejri attacks LG Jung with ‘letter bomb’
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 7
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today sent a three-page letter to Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) Najeeb Jung asking him not to protect the interests of the Congress and the Home Ministry, which, he said, wanted to stall state government’s Jan Lokpal Bill.

He sent the letter to the LG a day after reports that he had sought Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran’s opinion on the Delhi Government’s Jan Lokpal Bill.

The letter, written in Hindi, stated: “Now it is for you to decide whether or not you will be able to stand up to the pressure. You are a genuine person. But I humbly want to suggest to you that you have taken an oath to protect the Constitution and not the interests of any party or the Home Ministry.”

Kejriwal raised questions on how the LG had sought comments from Parasaran on the Bill that was sent to him only last evening and shortly thereafter the news leaked out that the law officer had objected to it.

On Parasaran’s view that it was necessary to get approval from the Centre before tabling the Bill in the Assembly, Kejriwal said nowhere in the Constitution it was written that the Centre’s consent was required, except on three issues (which he did not elaborate on).

The fact that the media had access to the details of the Lieutenant Governor’s questions and the response of Parasaran on the Delhi Jan Lokpal Bill even before it was officially released has also not gone down well with the AAP government.

“In the past 10-15 days, the way things are happening and are being leaked out to the media is surprising. This raises a suspicion....Our office contacted the LG for a meeting, but before us, the whole thing is leaked out to a section of the media. There is a difference between transparency and selectively leaking out information,” Kejriwal said.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) spokesman Ashutosh today said, “The Lieutenant Governor is acting as an agent of the Congress and trying to malign the image of the AAP government.”

He said this was not the first time that the information had leaked from the LG office. He said the matter needed to be probed.

Arvind Kejriwal, however, told The Tribune that the language used by his colleague (Ashutosh) was “wrong”. 

Power crisis averted

The SC on Friday averted an electricity crisis in the Capital by directing the NTPC to hold back its threat to snap supply to two distribution companies of the Reliance group on February 10 as a coercive method to realise dues amounting to Rs 96 crore.

Setback for Delhi CM

* The SC on Friday stayed the exemption granted by the Delhi HC to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Education Minister Manish Sisodia from personal appearance in a trial court in connection with a defamation case

* The case has been filed by Union Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal’s son Amit

* Kejriwal and Sisodia will now have to be present in the trial court on the next date of hearing