Two reasons why Modi government will continue to hound AAP

The constant bickering between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-ruled Delhi government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Centre is here to stay. After reports that the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Delhi government is getting six officers from Bihar on deputation, Delhi lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung’s office was quick to respond saying the ACB functioned under his control, authority and supervision. This came barely a fortnight after a tense stand-off between the Delhi government and the Centre over posting of senior officials in the national capital. The recent issue may further escalate the ongoing turf war between the Centre and the Kejriwal led Delhi government.

In such a scenario, the ongoing showdown between the two governments may only come to an end if both sides reach a compromise or one of them backs off, or the disputes are settled by the courts. There is a remote chance of AAP and BJP calling it a truce or either of the two yielding. And the courts are also unlikely to decide the matter soon. What is certain is the confrontation between the Delhi government and the Centre is going to be a protracted one.

A senior functionary in the Delhi government, who works closely with chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, told this writer that the flashpoints between the Delhi government and the Centre pertained to twin matters of governance and checking corruption.

Governance

The confrontation between the Delhi government and the Centre on the issue of governance started on May 15 when the L-G decided to post Shakuntala Gamlin as the acting chief secretary for the ten-day leave of chief secretary KK Sharma. Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal took strong exception to it and wrote a letter to President Pranab Mukherjee. Supporting Jung, the home ministry issued a gazette notification on May 21 stating that the L-G has jurisdiction over matters of services, public order, police and land.

AAP feels the Centre is putting spokes, through the L-G, in the efficient administration of the Delhi government. The Delhi government, like other states, should have the powers to choose its own officers in order to run a smooth government. However, the Centre argues that Delhi is a Union territory and the L-G, as a representative of the President, has jurisdiction over matters of police, order, land and service (transfer and posting of Central officers). The matter temporarily subsided after the chief secretary came back from leave.

Corruption

Another area of confrontation between the Delhi government and the Centre is over the issue of corruption. It started as a result of the Centre’s notification taking away powers of the ACB to initiate action against the functionaries of the Centre. Dismissing the bail application of a head constable, who was arrested by the bureau in a corruption case, the Delhi High Court on May 25 termed the Centre’s notification as “suspect”. The Supreme Court, on May 29, issued notice to the Delhi government on Centre's appeal against High Court order allowing ACB to take action against bureaucrats. The apex court has given three weeks to the Delhi government to reply to the notice.

For the AAP government, checking corruption and efficient governance are the two issues on which it won a historic mandate in the 2015 state elections. The state government rues the fact that the Centre is not cooperating with it on matters of filling vacancies, which is a prerequisite for good governance. For instance, the post of chairman of New Delhi Municipal Corporation has been lying vacant for the last three months.

ACB needs at least 50 inspectors but the Centre is not posting any. More than 1.5 lakh complaints have been made in the bureau but there are not enough personnel to handle them. In such a scenario, the AAP government has been forced to get officers on deputation from Bihar.

According to AAP, officials from Uttar Pradesh are already working on deputation with the Delhi government but the L-G has not made an issue out of it. Moreover, the officers are relatively junior in rank and, therefore, the Narendra Modi government should not have any issue.