File picture of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Lt Governor Najeeb Jung.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today met Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung at Delhi's Raj Niwas for 30 minutes, amid an escalation of their turf war for control in the capital.
Mr Kejriwal's deputy Manish Sisodia was with the Chief Minister. They handed over the resignation of Jitender Singh Tomar as law minister and also recommended the name of Delhi Jal Board vice chairman Kapil Mishra as Mr Tomar's successor, sources told NDTV.
Mr Tomar resigned late last night after he was arrested for allegedly forging degrees and sent to police custody.
Mr Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party has alleged political vendetta in the arrest of Mr Tomar and has slammed the BJP-led Centre for the manner in which it was done. The LG represents the Centre in Delhi and controls key functions like policing.
"There is an emergency-like situation in Delhi," said an angry Mr Sisodia yesterday.
Mr Jung and Mr Kejriwal have been at loggerheads for weeks over the appointment of key bureaucrats and now police personnel to the Delhi government's Anti-Corruption Branch or ACB.
The tussle played out in public yesterday when the Delhi government refused to let a senior police officer appointed by the LG to the ACB to take charge. Joint Commissioner MK Meena dug in his heels and informed the government that he had already taken over and is now ACB chief.
The LG also struck down the transfer by Mr Kejriwal of Delhi's Home Secretary Dharam Pal, who was ordered out because he had signed the notification appointing Mr Meena to the ACB.
The AAP government has linked what it alleges is Mr Jung's effort to "control investigation into corruption" with the probe it has re-opened in what is called the multi-crore CNG fitness scam.
The re-opening of investigation prompted Mr Jung's office to justify his decision not to order high-level probe into the case.
In 2012, the ACB had allegedly found that the Delhi government lost over Rs. 100 crore by awarding a contract to operate and maintain certification of CNG vehicles to a private company.