Kejriwal targets Modi; BJP, Congress want 21 AAP MLAs disqualified

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.

Kejriwal government is arguing that parliament secretaries do not draw salaries or perks. The parliamentary secretary post is customarily seen as a loophole post – one where you put in those you couldn’t offer a cabinet berth but placate them with a sense of power. If all people are disqualified and made to sit at home, what will they (Centre) derive from this. He added that Modi is free to take revenge on him but he should not hamper the good work that the parliamentary secretaries are doing for Delhi’s development.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked Laxmikant Parsekar about the recent public meeting conducted by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the coastal state, said the Goa Chief Minister himself.

Through the amendment bill, the AAP government wanted “retrospective” exemption for the Parliamentary Secretaries from disqualification provision. The President, however, withheld his assent and sent the matter to Election Commission for their views.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra also criticised the government for pointing fingers at PM Modi and the President and said that such decisions should have been taken as per the rules of the Constitution.

The sass and sarcasm continue as the letter makes allegations against the BJP and Jung for shielding criminal BJP members allegedly involved in the murder of MM Khan, a legal officer in New Delhi Municipal Corporation.

BJP’s Leader of Opposition in Assembly Vijender Gupta said: “Kejriwal should resign on moral grounds”.

The legislators were appointed parliamentary secretaries past year. These AAP MLAs now face disqualification.

Acting as a quasi-judicial body, the Election Commission to which the President referred the issue, had sought replies from the MLAs. He went on to accuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi for orchestrating this row.

Reacting on the refusal of the president, Arvind Kejriwal said that the Central Home Ministry was behind the move. He said the Supreme Court’s orders on the issue of office of profit were crystal clear. “Even staff attached to a parliamentary secretary is a facility”. Since then several states started appointing parliamentary secretaries, using the posts to keep legislators without ministerial berths happy.