Chadha returns Rs 2.5 remuneration received as adviser to Deputy CM

NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party leader Raghav Chadha, on Wednesday, sent a letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, enclosing a draft worth a grand total of Rs 2.50, the amount Chadha said he had drawn as salary for being one of the nine advisers in the Delhi government.

All nine advisers were sacked on Tuesday after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said these posts were not sanctioned. Four of these nine advisers had already quit from their posts before the MHA order.

AAP hit back at the Centre, claiming that its appointees were unfairly targeted.

The move comes after 20 AAP MLAs, who were recommended to be suspended by the Election Commission for holding office-of-profit, were restored by the Delhi High Court.

Other top aides who were ousted include Arunoday Prakash, media adviser to Deputy Chief Minister; Amardeep Tiwari, media adviser to Law Minister; and Rajat Tiwari, adviser to PWD Minister.

"I was offered an honorarium of Re 1 per month and over my time there earned a princely sum of Rs 2.50," Chadha said at a press conference here.

"While we cannot change what is in the past, please accept enclosed a Demand Draft of Rs 2.50 in favour of "Ministry of Home Affairs" that I earned in my capacity as the adviser as a token of my remorse," Chadha stated in his letter, adding that he had "realised the error of my ways".

He also took potshots at the BJP-ruled Centre for appointing Sambit Patra and Shazia Ilmi as directors at public sector companies and for giving ministerial ranks to religious leaders in Madhya Pradesh.

Chadha, a chartered accountant, was appointed adviser to Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia from January 16 to March 31, 2016, to prepare the Delhi Budget. The MHA said the posts of consultants and advisers had been done "by an agency not competent under the law to do so".

This has become the latest flashpoint between the Centre and the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government, after the Delhi High Court recently set aside the Election Commission's order to disqualify 20 AAP lawmakers for holding offices of profit as parliamentary secretaries.