New Delhi: The AAP on Tuesday branded Lt Governor Najeeb Jung as a threat to democracy after he reportedly suggested he could consider doing away with the Delhi assembly.
The Aam Aadmi Party also said that it smelt a larger "conspiracy" behind the continuing attacks on the Delhi government and said Jung would not have spoken this way without Prime Minister Narendra Modi's backing.
"This is definitely the voice of Modi," AAP leader Kumar Vishwas told the media.
Jung reportedly told an interviewer that he was willing to consider a proposal to do away with the Delhi assembly following a Delhi High Court ruling to give the Lt Governor the final say in matters of administration in the national capital.
"On the one hand, Modiji talks about cooperative federalism while on the other (LG) talks about dismissing the assembly. Such people are a threat to democracy," Kumar Vishwas said.
Kumar Vishwas, who rarely addresses the media despite being a confidant of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, said the LG had no power to scrap any legislature. This lay with parliament.
"We challenge the Modi government to get the proposal scrapping the Delhi assembly passed in parliament," he said. "Jung's threat to dissolve the Delhi assembly is tantamount to overriding the constitution."
The AAP leader said Modi was rattled by the party's expanding base in Punjab, Goa and Gujarat.
"It is a litmus test being done in Delhi by the Modi government to impose Emergency in the country," Kumar Vishwas said.
But he expressed confidence that just as the Supreme Court did in the case of Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, it would favour the elected government in Delhi too.
The AAP government is set to challenge the high court verdict in the apex court.
Kumar Vishwas also took objection to Jung's reported suggestion to Kejriwal to apologize to Modi for repeatedly attacking the Prime Minister.
Both Modi and Kejriwal, he said, were political personalities and one could always debate if the verbal attacks they have launched against each other was right or not.
But the Lt. Governor held a constitutional post and it was demeaning for him to make such a suggestion to Kejriwal, he said.
Asking Jung to shed his hatred for Kejriwal, the AAP leader said the Lt Governor must meditate to calm himself.
"Or if he wants to take on the AAP, he must resign as the LG and fight elections from any seat in Punjab," Kumar Vishwas said. "Or he can contest from any safe seat in Goa or Gujarat."
Earlier, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain accused Jung of "speaking the language of the Viceroy and Churchill" by suggesting that the Delhi assembly can be scrapped.
Jain also opposed Jung's reported order to senior officials in the Delhi government to send to him files that needed his signature.
Jung "has never fought any election, yet he has reached the top. It is but natural he will say this.
"The (British) Viceroy also used to say that India cannot be given complete independence," Jain said. "Winston Churchill used to say Indians cannot govern themselves.
"The Lt Governor is speaking the language of the Viceroy and Churchill."
Referring to Jung's order to senior officials in Delhi asking them to send files directly to him, Jain said this was "unconstitutional".
"In no way can the LG communicate directly with any officer. We will certainly abide by the (Delhi High) Court order. And the LG has the right to seek any file.
"But the files have to go through proper channels. He cannot order for any file directly and take any decision on his own," Jain said.
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