Lok Sabha clears Bill on more powers for Delhi L-G

Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, March 22

The Lok Sabha today cleared the contentious Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill 2021, which seeks to give more powers to the Lieutenant Governor, a representative of the Central Government and Delhi’s administrative head.

Criticising the move, Opposition party MPs accused the Modi government of “murdering” the democracy and “damaging” the country’s federal structure.

Urging the government to send the Bill to the Select Committee, NCP leader Supriya Sule said: “It (the Kejriwal government) must be doing something right which is why people elected them for three consecutive terms.”

Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy, however, said no rights were being taken away from the Delhi Government. Insisting that it was not a political move, he said: “The aim is to bring clarity to laws, create a sound government mechanism in Delhi, end ambiguity in running the affairs of the national Capital and enhance accountability.”

Shiv Sena MP Vinayak Raut slammed BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi “for speaking against the Delhi CM who is not a member of the House”. He reminded the House of the Daman and Nagar Haveli MP Mohan Delkar, who had named the administrator in his suicide note.

AAP MP Bhagwant Mann said: “We are being punished because we did not give permission for stadiums to be used as jails during the farmers’ protests. You cannot run Delhi through dictatorship. The BJP has been out of power for 22-23 years in Delhi and it can’t digest this fact.”

Congress’ Manish Tewari and his colleague JS Gill accused the BJP of trying to wrest power in states it lost.

Hitting back, Lekhi said the LG had the right to send the Bills to the President. “We have a quasi-federal structure where on some issues the Centre will take precedence. The Centre moved in because it was required,” she said.

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