Conspiracy being hatched to impose President’s rule in Delhi: Atishi

NEW DELHI: Delhi Cabinet minister Atishi on Friday alleged that a big political conspiracy is being hatched by the BJP-led central government to impose President’s rule in the national capital.

“(Delhi Chief Minister) Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest is a political conspiracy to topple his government. We have learnt from reliable sources that in the coming days, President’s rule will be imposed in Delhi. But imposing President’s rule in Delhi will be illegal and against the mandate of people,” she said at a press conference here.

Reacting to the AAP leader’s charge, the BJP said it was surprising that the fear of President’s rule is haunting the AAP, which has 62 MLAs in the 70-member Delhi Assembly.

At the press conference, Atishi claimed that in recent times, many events have taken place that indicate the possibility of the imposition of President’s rule in the national capital.

“The postings of IAS officers are controlled by the Ministry of Home Affairs. But for the last several months, no senior IAS officer has been posted in Delhi. Many posts are lying vacant in various departments of Delhi but officers are not being posted,” she charged.

The lieutenant governor has been repeatedly writing letters to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) regarding the Delhi government for the last one week for no reason, she said.

“It is said (in the letters to the MHA) that the ministers don’t attend meetings called by him,” she said.

Atishi further said, “On the pretext of Model Code of Conduct, Delhi government officials have stopped attending meetings, no matter how important the issue is.”

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on “false” charges because the BJP knows that no matter how hard it tries, it cannot defeat him in Delhi, the AAP leader claimed.

“Be it the 2013 elections, 2015 elections, 2020 elections or 2022 MCD elections, they have seen that the people of Delhi love Arvind Kejriwal, the people of Delhi love the AAP. And the people of Delhi, despite every possible effort of the BJP, vote only for the AAP, they vote only for Arvind Kejriwal,” she said.