Prez refuses assent to Delhi govt bill on Par Secy issue

Kejriwal asked and added, “Modi ji forced him to sit at home”.

Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta on June 14 termed as “moral defeat” for Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for his government’s failure to get Presidential assent to the Office of Profit Bill and demanded his resignation.

In a series of tweets on the issue, he also suggested that the “Prime Minister doesn’t respect democracy”.

“If they are working for free, what is troubling Modiji?”

Rai had requested Kejriwal to relieve him from the responsibility of the Transport Department after a major surgery, following which he is undergoing physiotherapy.

By blaming the Prime Minister for a decision taken by the President and which now rests with the EC, the Delhi CM is insinuating that all constitutional posts are subservient to the PM. Even after this Modiji is after only to disqualify our parliamentary secretaries.

States like Harayana, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Punjab, Gujarat and West Bengal have appointed MLAs as parliamentary secretaries.

Patra said the issue of disqualification of 21 MLAs lies before the President and the Election Commission.

Had the bill been cleared, it could have led to the dismissal of petitions pending with the President and the Delhi high court for the MLAs to lose their seats for holding a position that “profits” them – in form of perks, position, monetarily or otherwise.

Goa AAP spokesperson Rupesh Shinkre said here on Tuesday that Mr. Kejriwal is scheduled to visit Goa by end of this month.

“Delhi’s parliamentary secretaries can only use the official transport for official goal if required”, he added.

Congress on other hand rejected Kejriwal’s reference to MLAs holding similar posts in other states.

Why Kejriwal appointed parliamentary secretaries? We opened 100 mohalla clinics in past one year which is more than the number of dispensaries that were built in last 60 years in Delhi. The president has referred the issue to the Election Commission.

The President has refused to give his assentto a bill passed by the Delhi Assembly a year ago seeking amendment in the existing law to insulate the 21 legislators from the purview of of the office of profit law with retrospective effect.

AAP argues that the post of parliamentary secretary is not an office of profit simply because the MLAs do not receive any financial benefit and are not entitled to any perks.

“The president did not give assent to Delhi government’s bill and sent it back to the Lt Governor’s office on Monday”.