Kejriwal, Sisodia meet Najeeb Jung

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy, Manish Sisodia, met Najeeb Jung separately at his residence here on Friday. In a surprising move, Jung had on Thursday resigned as Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor.

Delhi CM had an hour-long meeting with Jung over breakfast during which the latter reminisced their nearly two-year-long association in governing the city besides discussing other issues.

Kejriwal said that he was invited by the Lieutenant Governor for the breakfast meeting that came a day after Jung’s sudden resignation from the post.

Sources said Jung and Kejriwal spoke about the bittersweet times and spent some light moments.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia also called on Jung.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Congress Chief Ajay Maken alleged on Friday that a deal was struck between the BJP and AAP to oust Najeeb Jung as both were against the release of the Shunglu Committee report, which would have benefitted the Congress in the upcoming Punjab and Goa Assembly polls.

But on the other hand, Delhi BJP Chief Manoj Tiwari termed Congress a “deal baaj” party while reacting over its Delhi unit chief Ajay Maken’s charge that there was some “deal” between Narendra Modi and Kejriwal behind the exit of Jung as the LG. “Ajay Maken belongs to Congress which is a deal baaj party,” said Tiwari. Though publicly Kejriwal had made stinging attacks on Jung on many occasions, both of them are known to share a cordial relationship at personal level. Asked about his meeting with Jung, Sisodia said: “We had a very good chat. He shared memories of the last two years and also of his days as a bureaucrat. He said that he was mulling quitting over the last one year.

“He wants to spend time with his family and focus on academics. He said that he could not quit due to things like chikungunya.”

Sisodia said he shared a “good rapport” with Jung and thanked him for his cooperation especially in areas of education. “We will work for the people of Delhi irrespective of circumstances being easy or tough.”

On who could be the next LG of Delhi, the Deputy Chief Minister said many names are doing the rounds but nothing official has come up.

Sources close to Jung had said on Thursday that his resignation has nothing to do with his acrimonious relationship with the AAP government over matters of jurisdiction as he was contemplating to quit for the last few months. The Chief Minister was in Ranchi on Thursday when the news of Jung’s resignation broke. Over the last two years, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has time and again taken on Jung over his perceived closeness to Modi.