Why Arvind Kejriwal tabled confidence motion in Delhi Assembly
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal tabled a confidence motion to show his MLA's strength in Delhi Assembly on Monday. Photo: Getty Images
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is once again at loggerheads with the BJP high command in New Delhi. To counter the BJP's alleged attempts of poaching Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs, Kejriwal tabled a confidence motion in Delhi assembly on Monday. The AAP has 62 MLAs in the assembly while the BJP has eight.
What Kejriwal said while tabling the motion: Kejriwal emphasized that the 'Operation Lotus' of the BJP to topple government will not be successful in Delhi as the AAP MLAs are "hardcore honest". "The confidence motion is to show that Operation Lotus could have been successful in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and other states but failed in Delhi. It is also to show that every AAP MLA is hardcore honest," Kejriwal said, news agency PTI reported.
He alleged that the BJP plans to bring down the government of Jharkhand in the next 15 days like it did in Bihar, Manipur, Maharashtra, Assam and Madhya Pradesh. He called central government led by PM Narendra Modi as the most corrupt government.
Kejriwal also held Modi government responsible for the price rise and said it was because of the high taxes imposed by the government. "Even curd, lassi, wheat and honey have been taxed. This is something which didn't happen in the last 75 years. They are using this money to write off loans of their billionnaire friends," Kejriwal said.
BJP's response to Kejriwal: The BJP accused Kejriwal of indulging in corruption. In a latest accusation against AAP government, BJP alleged that the party used corrupt practices in construction of government school classrooms.
BJP alleged that Kejriwal government hiked the construction cost of classrooms of city government schools by Rs 326 crore, which was 53 per cent more than the original tender amount, without floating a new tender. In a press conference on Monday, Gaurav Bhatia, spokesperson of the BJP said that 50 to 90% hiked construction cost of the classroom was shown, overlooking provisions of the CPWD manual. He also alleged that tenders were issued for selected contractors.
Bhatia also blamed Kejriwal for taking no action against the CVC report in 2020. The BJP cited the CVC commission report sent to the Delhi government's vigilance department in 2020 seeking response for additional construction of classrooms where the construction cost was hiked.
The party had earlier raised questions on Kejriwal government's implementation of excise policy where irregularities were reported in the work of Deputy CM Manish Sisodia.
Tiff between Kejriwal and LG VK Saxena: Be it LG Vinai Kumar Saxena rejecting Kejriwal's application to Singpore to attend a summit, or returning his files without acting on them, or even suspending Kejriwal's Deputy Secretary for corruption, relations between the LG and the Delhi CM have not been good.
Kejriwal also did not attended an event by Saxena. A new controversy erupted when AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak accused the LG of indulging in Rs 1,400 crore scam during his term as Khadi and Village Industries Commission chairman. AAP MLAs also demanded LG's resignation over the issue.
The MLA alleged that when Saxena was the chairman of Khadi commission, he forced his employees to exchange his old unaccounted notes after demonitization in nearly 7,000 branches of Khadi. He further alleged that Saxena conducted an investigation suspended two whistleblowers who complained againstg him and cleared himself of all the charges. All the AAP MLAs created ruckus in the house and demanded an ED investigation into this crime. They also demanded resignation of Saxena.