Senior AAP leader and Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Thursday lashed out at the leadership of Congress’ Delhi unit accusing them of doing “politics of convenience” on the issue of the Centre’s ordinance on the Delhi services matter. 

Addressing a Press conference, Bharadwaj said that while the Delhi Congress is refusing to extend any support to the AAP on the Delhi services issue, former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had passed a resolution in the Delhi Assembly in 2002 against the Central Government ruled by the BJP.  Responding to Bharadwaj’s claim, senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Ajay Maken said that he never claimed that Sheila Dikshit didn’t seek full Statehood or expanded authority.

 He asserted that that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal wants to gain a “unique privilege previously denied to Chief Ministers like Sheila Dikshit, Madan Lal Khurana, Sahib Singh Verma, and Sushma Swaraj”.

“Sheila Dikshit had condemned the central government orders earlier and said that it is violation of all democratic traditions. She had passed a similar resolution in the Delhi Assembly in 2002 against the Centre that had said they don’t recognise Government of NCT of Delhi and that there can be only one government in Delhi,” the Delhi minister said. 

“What the Delhi Congress is doing is politics of convenience and is working for the BJP. The statements are coming from such leaders who have been sidelined by the party,” Bharadwaj said while addressing a press conference.

He explained that this indicates that only during the first tenure of Sheila Dikshit did she have trouble with the BJP Government at the Centre.

But 2004 onwards, once the Manmohan Singh-led Government was sworn in at the Centre in 2004 and till the end of Sheila Dikshit-led Delhi Government’s tenure in 2013, she was consulted by the Centre on matters of land, public order and police, as well.

Drawing attention to the evolving position of Congress leaders, he pointed out that Maken, a prominent Congress leader, had previously acknowledged the powers of the Delhi Chief Minister to be on par with those of any other state’s Chief Minister.

However, Bharadwaj expressed his disappointment with the current conduct of Maken, accusing him of misleading the people of Delhi and aligning himself with the BJP.

Reading out another part of the 2002 resolution, he said, “The legislative assembly takes cognizance of the fact that constitutionally the LG is entrusted with three, and only three subjects and powers with respect to Entry 1, 2 and 18 of the State List. Over here, it once again becomes very clear that if the LG has any powers in Delhi it is only related to land, public order and police.

This is said by the Congress party in 2002 in their own resolution. Please note that there is no mention of the services department.

Recently, the Congress leaders have been going around saying that the services was always with the Central Government. This untruth of theirs has also been exposed today,” he said.

Senior Congress leader Ajay Maken responded to Bharadwaj’s charges and said that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal wants to gain a “unique privilege previously denied to Chief Ministers like Sheila Dikshit, Madan Lal Khurana, Sahib Singh Verma, and Sushma Swaraj”.

“Never claimed that Sheila Dikshit Ji didn’t seek full Statehood or expanded authority. My assertion was that Kejriwal wants to gain an unique privilege previously denied to Chief Ministers like Sheila Dikshit, Madan Lal Khurana, Sahib Singh Verma, and Sushma Swaraj,” Maken said in a Twitter post. Maken further said that the AAP “should retract their demand”, if they “comprehend the essence” of National Capital Territory.

“ Not being given full powers to Delhi. There must be a reason. The reason being that Delhi represents the National Capital and belongs to the entire country. Hence, the principle of cooperative federalism doesn’t apply here.

As such, the constitution refers to Delhi not merely as Delhi, but as the ‘National Capital Territory of Delhi’. If AAP followers comprehend the essence of ‘National Capital Territory’, they should respectfully retract their demands,” Maken tweeted.  He said that the AAP should focus on improving the city instead of “seeking more authority to mask inefficiency”.

“Patel, Nehru, Shastri, Narasimha Rao, Vajpayee, to Manmohan Singh till 2014, none were granted what AAP is currently demanding from Modi,” the Congress leader said.

Earlier, Maken had strongly opposed extending any support to Kejriwal on the issue saying the Congress should not oppose the proposed legislation to be brought in Parliament on the Delhi services issue, replacing the ordinance promulgated by the Centre last week.

Earlier, Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit had also said that AAP’s allegations that it is not being allowed to work in Delhi is merely “an excuse” and a reflection of its “uselessness”.

Kejriwal has sought the support of various political parties on the issue of the Centre’s ordinance on the administration of services in the national capital and on Tuesday, he met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. He also sought Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s support during their meeting earlier this week.