New Delhi : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday attacked the Narendra Modi government over the row related to a top Delhi official, saying her appointment was meant to trip his government.
Addressing thousands of auto-rickshaw drivers here, Kerjriwal touched upon the controversy involving chief secretary in-charge Shakuntala Gamlin but didn’t take her name.
Gamlin’s appointment by Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung has come under scathing attack from the AAP leader. Jung has refused back off, and the central government has accused Kejriwal of character assassinating the official.
“We opposed Secretary’s (Gamlin) appointment but the Narendra Modi-led BJP government made her the acting chief secretary of Delhi,” he said. “The Modi government wants to fail us.”
Kejriwal accused the officer of siding with power distribution companies.
He said when his Aam Aadmi Party formed a government in Delhi in February, a power department secretary asked the power minister to sign a paper which she claimed to be a comfort letter for a loan being taken by the power companies from banks.
“When our minister looked into it, he found out the paper was not a comfort letter but a guarantee towards Rs.11,000 crore loan being taken by Delhi power companies,” Kejriwal said.
“That secretary had come to get that guarantee paper signed for the loan. She wanted us to back the power companies and burden the common man.
“It was the wisdom of our minister that he did not sign that guarantee paper. Otherwise, if the power companies had failed to repay the loan, the residents of Delhi would have to bear the burden as the electricity tariff would have increased two-to-three times,” he added.
Jung on May 15 gave Gamlin the additional charge of chief secretary of Delhi since incumbent Chief Secretary K.K. Sharma is in the US.