File photo: A man boards a train of the Delhi Metro Airport Express Line in New Delhi. (Associated Press)
The Aam Aadmi Party today said it will strongly oppose the Centre's move to pay a subsidiary of the Reliance Infrastructure Rs 1,800 crore for exiting from the crucial Delhi airport Metro project.
AAP said the Centre should not take any decision which has financial implications for the Delhi government, which has a stake in DMRC, in absence of an elected government in the national capital.
The party said the Attorney General has advised the government to pay Rs 1,800 crore to the company for terminating the contract of Delhi airport Metro with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).
Former Delhi Transport Minister and AAP leader Saurabh Bhardwaj noted that since the matter is in arbitration and also that this company exited the agreement purely on financial considerations, the state government was opposed to any payment for exiting the agreement.
"In January this year, when the AAP government was there in Delhi, it received a letter from the then urban development minister Kamal Nath seeking views of the state government on why this payment should not be made to Reliance Infra subsidiary under the terms of condition of the contract, since it had terminated the same.
"Arvind Kejriwal endorsed the view in his capacity as chief minister and the UPA government did not proceed with its plan," Mr Bhardwaj said.
The party said it will also take to legal remedies, since DMRC cannot be "arm-twisted" to pay such a huge amount of money.