Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia
Amid a tussle between the Delhi government and the Lieutenant Governor over bureaucratic appointments, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has said that the Centre is trying to bulldoze the agenda of the Aam Aadmi Party government.
"The Centre wants to run Delhi. They want to bulldoze our agenda, we will not allow this," Mr Sisodia told NDTV. "The Centre is Allergic to Kejriwal," he added.
Mr Kejriwal and the Lieutenant Governor, whose working relationship has never been smooth, plummeted into their latest battle over an IAS officer described by the Chief Minister as a "lobbyist for power companies". She was picked by Mr Jung as acting Chief Secretary in the Delhi government.
Mr Kejriwal claimed that an elected government cannot be saddled with bureaucrats against its choice, a stand that has been backed by other heads of state governments.
But the Union Home Ministry issued a notification on Thursday in which it said that it is not essential for the Lieutenant Governor to consult the chief minister on matters like the appointment of key bureaucrats.
The AAP government has now called for a two-day emergency session of the Delhi assembly from Tuesday to discuss the Home Ministry's notification. "This issue will be resolved by the Assembly now," Mr Sisodia said.
He also took on the media saying their government has been wrongly targeted. "Criticism is fine but agenda driven journalism is wrong," Mr Sisodia said.
He said that the media unfairly criticised him for the death of Gajender Singh, a farmer from Rajasthan who hanged himself at an Aam Aadmi Party rally in Delhi last month.
"News channels tagged me a murderer, later it was realised that my call records weren't found but nobody cared to clarify. I was extremely pained that media blamed me for orchestrating Gajender's death. For the first time, my 11-year-old son called me in office to pacify me," Mr Sisodia said.
He also said, "Question us, criticise us, hang us if we are corrupt or wrong but don't spread false rumours."