Centre political tussle: Arvind Kejriwal calls on President Pranab Mukherjee

Delhi government on Tuesday removed from several areas posters and hoardings, through which it had taken a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to allow it to function without “interference”.

“The Delhi government instructs to remove displays/advertisements from outdoor sites as a mark of respect to the departed soul”, a Delhi government statement said.

The BJP had slammed the AAP for the advertisements against the Prime Minister, while the Congress, led by State president Ajay Maken, had dragged it to court on the subject.

The plea said the act of the government was contrary to a ruling of the Supreme Court which called the development of personality cult of political functionaries at the cost of public money as an “antithesis to democracy”. The AAP government had came out with similar advertisements on TV channels and radio.

The former Congress lawmaker alleged that Mr Kejriwal has been creating one crisis after another, be it over the appointment of the Chief Secretary or through claiming that he was being made a victim of politics in the matter of appointment of Shakuntala Gamlin as the acting Chief Secretary, despite the fact that Mr Sisodia himself had cleared her name for the post.

“Instead of blaming the Central government, the Kejriwal government should own up the blame for the transfer of the two officials as no representative of the Delhi government, not even the chief secretary, attended the cadre control meeting held on July 24”, said Mr Maken.

The bench also asked the Delhi government’s standing counsel Raman Duggal whether the money spent on the advertisements was from the party fund or public money.

Another PIL filed by PhD scholar Varun Kumar Mahla sought immediate withdrawal of advertisements by the Delhi government that use phrases like “Kejriwal Sarkar”.