New Delhi: In the latest example of hostility between the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi, Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has hit out at the latter over the appointment of AAP leaders to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s board of directors.
Puri said the AAP government cannot impose its whims and fancies on the DMRC since both the central and state governments had a 50-50 share in it. Addressing the press at the ministry, he said the Centre does not encourage non-government officials to be part of the board, adding: “I, as a central minister, will not be party to any of this.”
Puri countered the AAP’s statement about former Delhi CM and BJP leader Madan Lal Khurana being the DMRC’s first chairman, saying he had stepped down and resigned after then-CM Sheila Dikshit had opposed it. He said, on the other hand, the AAP had nominated two politicians, Raghav Chadha and Atishi, who lost the recent Lok Sabha polls.
Chadha counter-attacked Puri on Twitter, pointing out that Puri himself had lost the polls from Amritsar.
“By the extension of that logic since the Hon’ble Minister @HardeepSPuri achieved the unachievable feat of losing the Lok sabha elections from Amritsar on a BJP ticket despite Modi Tsunami and BJP winning 300+ seats, he must put in his papers immediately (sic).”
Asked about Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot’s letter to his ministry which claimed that the nominations were in accordance with the Department of Public Enterprise guidelines dated 2 January 2000, Puri said he had already made his stance clear.
“There would be no end to letters like this if I started,” he told ThePrint.
On illegal colonies
Puri, along with Housing Urban Affairs Secretary and DMRC chairman Durga Shanker Mishra, also clarified that the central government was taking steps to confer ownership rights to the residents of unauthorised colonies in Delhi, claiming that the Delhi government has been an impediment.
Puri accused Delhi CM Kejriwal of engaging in “shoot and scoot” politics, and said he had “tied himself up in knots” on this issue.
As ThePrint reported last week, the Kejriwal government’s decision to announce the regularisation of illegal colonies in New Delhi had invited a sharp rebuke from Puri’s ministry. The minister accused Kejriwal of trying to take undue credit despite having tried to stop the project all along.
Also read: The ‘readymade minister’: How poll debutant Hardeep Singh Puri wooed Amritsar
On delayed Delhi Metro Phase IV
Asked about the delayed Phase IV of the Delhi Metro, Puri once again placed the blame on the state government, saying the 12 July Supreme Court directions said as much. The apex court had asked the concerned authorities to commence construction work on the project.
The Public Investment Board, in its meeting on 26 February 2019, recommended a proposal for three corridors of the Delhi Metro under Phase IV, which was approved by the Union Cabinet in March. However, the Delhi government in April 2019 directed the DMRC not to start work on the project till the union ministry revised the proposal.
Also read: DMRC wants Delhi govt to withdraw AAP leaders named to board as they can’t be accountable
Puri’s comments are like the kettle calling the pot black!
Another big mouth.