Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal speaking in the Delhi Assembly on Wednesday. (Press Trust of India)
The aggressive hostilities between the Centre and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal show no sign of flaming out.
The Delhi Assembly, where Mr Kejriwal's party holds all but three seats, today endorsed his bid to challenge the Centre's allocation of vast power to Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung at his expense. The Centre, on the other hand, has moved the turf war to the Supreme Court.
In a resolution, the legislature said a recent notification by the Centre giving the Lieutenant Governor extensive powers and limiting those of the Chief Minister is "illegal". The notification said the Lieutenant Governor is not obliged to consult the Chief Minister on key issues of governance including the appointment of bureaucrats. On Monday, the Delhi High Court said the notification is "suspect"; the Centre has challenged that in the Supreme Court.
"We are answerable to the people, hence we must have the right to appoint our officials," Mr Kejriwal told law-makers. He repeated the allegation that the Lieutenant Governor is guilty of underhand political maneuvering to give unwarranted authority to the BJP in Delhi. "The people have no expectations from the PM anymore; that is why the BJP is down to three (law-makers in the assembly), " he said.
In recent weeks, the tug-of-war between the Chief Minister and the Lieutenant Governor has hit bureaucrats hard, with both men cancelling postings assigned by the other. The Delhi assembly said today that Mr Kejriwal's government has the right to assign offices to bureaucrats, but said the officers must be protected "from being victimised by any extraneous element".
Mr Kejriwal has made it clear that he wants to campaign for statehood for Delhi, which, as a Union Territory, is governed partly by the Union Home Ministry.
Among the points of fierce dispute is whether the Delhi government's Anti-Corruption Bureau can investigate officers of the central government for graft. The Centre's notification said that is not possible, a stand over-ruled by the Delhi High Court.