New Delhi: In the midst of his bitter fight with the Centre on a range of issues, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday accused the Modi dispensation of turning its ties with Delhi government into an “India-Pakistan” type situation and said absence of obstacles would have helped him achieve four times of what has been done so far in the city.
In the first edition of his ‘Talk to AK’ show, seen as an attempt to increase Aam Aadmi Party’s national connect, Kejriwal touched upon a number of contentious issue including appointment of 21 Parliamentary Secretaries, arrest of a top bureaucrat by CBI and transfer of officers even as he taunted the Prime Minister saying, he was the “only corrupt Chief Minister in the country in the eyes of” Narendra Modi.
The Delhi Chief Minister, in the nearly two-hour-long programme that began with a monologue followed by a question and answer session, alleged that the Centre was trying to “break” the AAP government and that BJP President Amit Shah was micromanaging CBI, adding, “but every dog has his day and all these will soon come to an end.” Kejriwal, the AAP national convenor, indicated that the party may contest the next assembly polls in Gujarat, alleging that an “atmosphere of suppression” was prevailing there and people wanted to overthrow the BJP regime.
Justifying his government’s spendings on advertisement, he insisted that it spent only Rs 75 crore not 526 crore in the last fiscal and accused the RSS of spreading rumours on the issue, saying it has no parallel in the world in spreading rumours. “If they would not have made this India-Pakistan situation, then work done by us would have been four times.
“I had told him (PM), forgive me if I have committed any mistake, but please end this irritants. A lot of work has been done. But if not for obstacles, the amount of work would have been four times. “Our Assembly passed 14 bills, including on time-bound services delivery, which had the clause of automatic compensation. It’s been eight months since this passage of this bill. “Remember the Ramlila version of Jan Lokpal Bill? It’s been eight months that we passed it and since then the Centre’s approval is awaited,” Kejriwal said. Flanked by his deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and music composer Vishal Dadlani – the moderator for the programme which is seen as Kejriwal’s answer to PM’s ‘Maan Ki Baat’ radio address, Kejriwal alleged that Delhi has become the “victim” of Centre’s confrontational attitude as AAP MLAs are being arrested on “false charges”.
“In PM’s eyes there is only one corrupt CM in the country. They want to break us. They enter into settings with other parties. “Have FIRs been filed against Robert Vadra or Sonia Gandhi or Shivraj Singh Chouhan? They are not scared of me, they are scared of my honesty. The full police force is after us,” he said.
“The Centre is working like the British used to treat the freedom fighters. I have told MLAs this is the second freedom struggle,” Kejriwal said “They are not probing the CWG scam. I have told my MLAs to be ready to go to jail. If Rajendra Kumar was not in my office then I can challenge that he would not have been arrested.
“The message to officers is do not work for us. Amit Shah is micromanaging CBI. But every dog has his day. All these will soon come to an end,” he said.
Warning the Centre not to “mess” with the student community, he said if the current “trend” continues then there may be a “danger” for the country in the future. (PTI)
