AAP's Arvind Kejriwal to use MLA power again to counter MHA order

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party is all set to use its majority in the Delhi assembly, again, in its turf war with the Centre. On Sunday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met his MLAs to finalise plans for a special two-day assembly session for introducing a resolution against the home ministry’s notification, which gave the lieutenant-governor an upper hand in bureaucratic appointments.

“It was a short meeting. We discussed the way in which the Centre was trying to encroach upon the constitutional rights of the Delhi assembly. It is totally wrong! We should oppose it very seriously. The whole assembly opposing it is something more than the government opposing it. The resolution is likely to be introduced when the assembly meets. The assembly has more rights than the government,” AAP’s Delhi secretary and Greater Kailash MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj told ET.

When Delhi assembly met in March, the MLAs had passed a resolution against the home ministry notification of August 2014, which curbed the powers of Delhi Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB).

When this was pointed out to him, Bharadwaj said, “there is no validity of Centre’s notification. The ACB has caught Delhi Police officials despite that and the high court has upheld it. So this shows that the resolution of the assembly holds in court. In any case, the assembly is not extending its jurisdiction in any way. It is simply saying that we do not accept this notification. ”