Arvind Kejriwal working on "devolution of powers" of the Delhi government: Ashish Khetan

NEW DELHI: At a time when some senior Aam Aadmi Party leaders have criticised Arvind Kejriwal for making the party "one-person centric" and deviating from the ideals of "Swaraj", Vice Chairman of the Delhi Dialogue Commission (DDC) and party leader Ashish Khetan has said the AAP Convener as Chief Minister is working on "devolution of powers" of the Delhi government.

In his first interview after joining the commission, Khetan told ET that the Kejriwal-led administration’s key priority is on "decentralizing policy making and consultation" through the newly formed DDC. "The CM himself wants to work on giving broader vision for Delhi. Dialogue doesn’t mean four people sitting in a closed room; dialogue will be when we consult those for whom policies are being made. The question is of intent and priorities; look at the intent of this government. Was there a state advisory board or commission to hold wider consultations in Delhi before this government? The answer is no, within 15 days of its formation, the Delhi government announced the DDC," he said, implying that Kejriwal is interested in running his administration in a "bottom-up" and not "topdown" fashion. While Khetan refused to comment directly on the internal conflicts in AAP, since "he is not authorized to comment", the brainchild behind AAP’s public engagement forum ‘Delhi Dialogue" explained by implication why he feels Kejriwal is trying to keep less powers to himself.

"Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal wants to devote all his time and energy to develop a model of governance which would stand apart from all models in the country," he said.

According to him, key part of this "model" is that policy formulation will no longer remain "in the hands of a handful of bureaucrats or elected representatives. This is our new model of governance; this is a vision of governance which we wanted to formalise through Delhi Dialogue and which we want to execute through DDC. A dishonest and opaque government erects walls between itself and the people, while honest government brings down the walls." Khetan also emphasized that the administration plans to establish a forum where government will be in direct contact with all the people— all stakeholders of Delhi at all times. "One of the ways in which this could be done is online—a mobile app, website etc," he said. On Monday, the DDC announced 21 task forces.