The Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, VK Saxena, has sent a strongly-worded letter to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and AAP ministers threatening legal action over allegations that he attempted to derail the Delhi government's power subsidy programme.
The allegations were made by Power Minister Atishi and Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, who claimed that Saxena was responsible for not clearing the necessary files to extend the subsidy.
Saxena has denied the accusations, calling them "blatantly false, misleading, accusatory, libellous and defamatory". He has challenged the AAP government to provide evidence to support their claims that he tried to stop the power subsidy programme, which is widely popular among the urban poor in Delhi, stated a report in NDTV.
Demand for evidence
In his letter to Kejriwal, Saxena stated that he has always been committed to providing power subsidy to the poor and has made his stance clear in public statements and in writing on different occasions. He accused the AAP government of making deliberate omissions and commissions to mislead the people for partisan gains.
Saxena has demanded that the government provide any paper or communication that establishes his alleged involvement in trying to stop the power subsidy programme. He warned that failure to produce evidence would result in legal action for misleading the public.
Timeline of events
Atishi had alleged last week that the subsidies would be stopped as the Lieutenant Governor had not yet cleared the file to extend it. However, Saxena's office denied her allegation and stated that the file had already been cleared. Saxena has also questioned why the decision was kept pending until April 4 when the deadline was April 15 and why the file was only sent to him on April 11.
Ongoing tensions
The power subsidy matter is the latest in a series of clashes between Saxena and the Kejriwal government. The AAP leaders have frequently criticized Saxena for allegedly harassing them on the instructions of the BJP-led central government. Other non-BJP states, including West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, have also made similar allegations, resulting in showdowns in the assembly.
