New Delhi: Hours after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) approved the Delhi Budget, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took a dig at the Centre over the objection raised on allocation for advertisement, saying “uneducated” people were posted from top to bottom.
However, Kejriwal offered an olive branch to the Central government calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi his “elder brother” and added he wanted to work together with the Centre.
Kejriwal said that the Budget, which will now be presented on Wednesday, had been approved “without any change” and questioned the practice of sending it to the Centre for clearance.
“They said advertisement allocation was higher than that for infrastructure. Uneducated people are sitting from top to bottom. Which is more — Rs 20,000 crore for infrastructure or Rs 500 crore for advertisement?” said the Chief Minister in the Assembly.
He expressed satisfaction over the approval of the Budget for 2023-24, saying “better late than never” and asked what was the need to create an issue over it.
He also questioned the alleged obstruction by the Centre and the Lieutenant Governor (L-G) office in delaying the Budget presentation in the Assembly by one day and said it will be tabled in the House on Wednesday now.
Kejriwal said Delhi would have seen 10 times more progress had there been no tussles between the Centre and the state government.
“The Delhi government wants to work and not fight. We are tired of fighting and it serves no one. We want to work together with the prime minister, we do not want any tussle,” he said.
Kejriwal said if the Prime Minister wishes to win Delhi, he will have to win the hearts of the people of the city first. “This is my mantra to him.”
“You are the elder brother and I am the younger brother. I will reciprocate if you support me. If you want to win the heart of the little brother, love him,” he said.
The Delhi Budget was scheduled to be tabled in the Assembly on Tuesday, but the AAP government could not do so after the MHA sought clarification on the allocation of funds for infrastructure and advertisements.
While the matter sparked a fresh row between the AAP government and the Centre, the BJP on Tuesday alleged that the Kejriwal dispensation sat on the clarifications sought by the Ministry of Home Affairs for three days and then blamed the Centre for gaining “cheap publicity”.
Kejriwal alleged that the Centre’s objection was a departure from tradition and an attack on the Constitution.
“The Delhi government wants to work and not fight. We are tired of fighting and it serves no one. We want to work together with the prime minister, we do not want any tussle,” the CM said.
He said the Centre had raised four queries. “We replied to them without any other change in the Budget. Now, they have given approval to it which proves that their ego was satisfied that the Delhi government bowed down,” Kejriwal said.
Kejriwal also asserted that the Lt Governor has no power “to raise any objections, make observations or write anything on a file”, as he was bound by the aid and advice of the Cabinet of the elected government.
Earlier in the day, Kejriwal appealed to the Prime Minister through a letter.
“This is the first in the last 75 years that a state’s Budget has been stalled. Why are you upset with Delhiites? Please don’t stall Delhi’s budget. With folded hands, Delhiites urge you to pass their budget,” the AAP national convener wrote in his letter.
The party said March 21 was a “black day” as an elected government was “prevented” from presenting the Budget.
During the day, sources in the L-G office accused Kejriwal, his ministers and the Aam Aadmi Party of “deliberately making false statements with the sole purpose of misleading the people of Delhi and the media and distracting them from the failures of the AAP government”.
“He has been saying that the Centre has blocked a State’s Budget. This is patently false. Delhi is a Union Territory and not a State and therefore it is fully a part and parcel of the Government of India. Moreover, the Budget has not been blocked,” said a source in the L-G office.
On its part, the BJP accused the CM of creating a row over the city government’s Budget for “cheap publicity” and to hide his own mistakes.
Addressing a press conference here, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said the AAP leader was levelling allegations on the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to divert attention from the corruption charges faced by the city government.
Addressing the House hours after the MHA’s nod, Kejriwal said the practice of sending the Delhi government’s Budget to the Centre for approval is against the basic structure of the Constitution and democracy.
The CM said the provision will not stand judicial scrutiny for “even two minutes”, adding that the Centre’s objection was a departure from tradition. “It happened for the first time.”
“It is an attack on the Constitution. Even B R Ambedkar would not have thought of a situation where the central government would stop the presentation of a state government’s budget,” Kejriwal said.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Assembly passed a resolution on Tuesday for a probe by the privileges committee into the alleged role of Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar, Finance Secretary A C Verma and other officials in causing a delay in the presentation of the Budget.
AAP leaders alleged that the officers sat on a communication from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) raising certain queries on the Budget proposals and did not inform the minister concerned, leading to a delay in the presentation of the budget for 2023-24, originally scheduled for Tuesday.
The motion seeking a probe was tabled by AAP MLA Sanjiv Jha.
“Chief Secretary, finance secretary and other officials in nexus with the office of the Lieutenant Governor (L-G) and the Centre suppressed an important communication of MHA regarding the Budget. I recommend a probe by the privileges committee into their role in it causing delay in tabling of the Budget in the House,” Jha said.