New Delhi, Aug 7 (PTI) Jailed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has written to the lieutenant governor, saying cabinet minister Atishi will hoist the national flag in his place at the Delhi government’s Independence Day function, the AAP said on Wednesday, even as the LG office denied receiving any communication.
The BJP hit out at Kejriwal over the issue, pointing out that according to the national flag protocol, only the chief minister can hoist the tricolour and said the AAP supremo should make Atishi chief minister by resigning from the post.
Kejriwal is lodged in Tihar jail in connection with a CBI case linked to the alleged excise policy scam. He has been granted interim bail by the Supreme Court in the excise policy linked money laundering case registered by the Enforcement Directorate.
“Kejriwal has written to (Lieutenant Governor V K) Saxena from jail saying that Atishi will hoist the tricolour in his place on August 15,” the AAP said.
Every year, the Delhi government’s Independence Day function is held at Chhatrasal Stadium and the chief minister addresses the gathering.
A Raj Niwas official said, “With regards to the claims in various sections regarding the flag hoisting on August 15, it is clarified that the LG secretariat is not in receipt of any such communication whatsoever.” Slamming Kejriwal, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said that the letter written by the incarcerated chief minister to the lieutenant governor regarding the flag hoisting on Independence Day “proves” that the Aam Aadmi Party and its leaders were “anarchists” and would remain “anarchists”.
According to the national flag protocol, only the chief minister is allowed to hoist the flag in the states, Sachdeva said.
“Perhaps, the framers of the Constitution and the national flag protocol never imagined that one day, there would be a stubborn chief minister who would not resign even after going to jail.
“If the chief minister is unable to hoist the flag, then traditionally, the lieutenant governor of Delhi will hoist the flag. From 1991 to 1993 and in 2014, when there was no chief minister in Delhi, the lieutenant governor hoisted the flag,” Sachdeva said.
If Arvind Kejriwal wants his minister Atishi to hoist the flag, he should trust her and resign, allowing her to take the oath as chief minister, he added. PTI SLB BUN BUN KVK KVK
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