Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said that Union Home Minister Amit Shah did not have a “single valid argument” to support the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and asserted that the Opposition bloc INDIA will never let the Bill pass.
Initiating the debate in Lok Sabha on the Bill, Shah, in a veiled dig at the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said the BJP and the Congress had ruled the national capital without any confrontation, but problems arose only in 2015 “when a government came that had no intention to serve but only to fight with the Centre”.
Taking to X, Kejriwal in his first reaction, wrote in Hindi, “Today in the Lok Sabha, I heard Amit Shah speaking on the Bill which snatches away the rights of the people of Delhi. They do not have a single valid argument to support the Bill. Just talking nonsense here and there. They also know that they are doing wrong,” he said.
“This Bill is a Bill to enslave the people of Delhi. This is a Bill that makes them helpless and helpless. INDIA will never let this happen,” he added.
The AAP-led Delhi government has been at loggerheads with the Centre over the control of Group-A officers in the National Capital Territory administration.
In May, the Centre promulgated the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Ordinance, 2023, to create the National Capital Civil Service Authority which will administer the transfer and posting of bureaucrats serving the Delhi government.
The Ordinance nullified a Supreme Court order from May 11 that had given the power to the Delhi government, which gave it legislative power over bureaucrats excluding departments of public order, police and land.