The turf war between Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung in recent weeks may be unseemly, but it has ensured that the fledgling Aam Aadmi Party is once again making national headlines. Mr. Kejriwal, a master at playing the media, has succeeded in giving the battle a Centre versus States colour.
Indeed, the Delhi Chief Minister is also, reports suggest, working towards getting the backing of regional parties such as West Bengal’s Trinamool Congress, Bihar’s Janata Dal (United) and Uttar Pradesh’s Samajwadi Party in a bid to raise the issue of the attack on federalism in the monsoon session of Parliament.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had called on Mr. Kejriwal in March shortly after he won the Delhi elections to assure him full support for his demand for full Statehood for the national capital. More recently, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had tweeted: “Too much interference in the federal structure is unacceptable. The State government is an elected body.” A media-savvy Mr. Kejriwal had immediately re-tweeted Ms. Banerjee’s tweets.
The Left Parties, too, have backed Mr. Kejriwal in his battle against Mr. Jung — and on Tuesday, after Law Minister Jitendra Singh Tomar, accused of forging his degrees, was arrested, the CPI(M) issued a strong statement. Describing the arrest as “a shocking instance of arbitrary exercise of power” by the Lieutenant-Governor as it had “been effected when the matter of an alleged false degree acquired by the Minister is before the court”, the party charged the BJP with using Mr. Jung “to ride roughshod” over an elected State government: it also demanded his resignation.
Congress attack And now, the latest to fire a salvo in the Centre versus States battle is the Congress. On Tuesday, its Chief Ministers’ conclave accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of centralising power and the BJP of violating the spirit of “cooperative federalism”. Of course, its focus was on the nine States it is in power.
In Delhi, the AAP government’s turf war with the Lieutenant-Governor — who represents the Centre — started with a tussle over the appointment of top bureaucrats, and is now in the middle of a fight over the arrest of Mr. Tomar.
The AAP has accused the Lieutenant-Governor — and through him the BJP — of wishing to deflect its battle against corruption by arresting Mr. Tomar at a time when his case is being heard by the courts, even as it has alleged that the BJP, after losing the elections, wants to govern Delhi by proxy through Mr. Jung.
Of the two national parties, the BJP is clearly ranged on the side of the Lieutenant-Governor against Mr. Kejriwal, though on Wednesday some effort was made jointly by Mr. Jung and the AAP government to look for a less confrontationist way of appointing bureaucrats.
For the Congress, politically, the crisis in Delhi poses a problem. It had been in power in the State for 15 years till 2013-end, but failed to win a single seat in the Assembly elections earlier this year. Its principal battle nationally is against the BJP, but here in Delhi, the challenge is from the AAP.
This dilemma is clearly visible: former Union Minister and now the party’s Delhi State chief, Ajay Maken, has attacked the AAP for objecting to Mr. Tomar’s arrest on the grounds that his case is in court, even saying it is not serious about tackling corruption as it is yet to appoint a Lokayukta — a key election promise.
