Delhi Lt Governor Najeeb Jung in an unexpected move submitted his resignation to the government on Thursday.
His tenure has witnessed several controversies and one of the well-known one is the differences Jung had with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Both of them had been fighting over their areas of jurisdiction in the national capital for long.
Fighting for rights: Unable to gain clarity over his rights, Kejriwal approached the Delhi HC. But the HC made one thing absolutely clear- Kejriwal can't complain if Jung vetoes any of his decisions.
Siding the Centre with an 'agenda': He has been accused by the Aam Aadmi Party government of working at the instructions of Narendra Modi-led central government.
The Jung-Reliance relation: Kejriwal has openly slammed Najeeb about his closeness with Mukesh Ambani and his work with them in London. AAP further questioned why such details weren't revealed on the LG's official website.
Clearing files, appointment of bureaucrats and transfers: The row had started when principal secretary (power) Shakuntala Gamlin, who has been accused of lobbying for power companies, was appointed as acting chief secretary. But very soon, the Centre acted up her transfer. Deputy CM Manish Sisodia and Kejriwal took this up to the President. Sisodia marched out to say, “We have told the President that the LG office is acting as if Delhi is under President’s rule and there is no elected government in the city." Post that Kejriwal had issued orders asking secretaries and chief secretaries not to act on Jung’s orders without checking with him first.
Blocking AAP's decisions: A media report earlier this year summarized a few decisions that were blocked by the Governor. These include regularising the employment of 15,000 temporary teachers; raising the land acquisition compensation in Delhi from the present Rs 54 lakhs per acre to the prevailing market price of Rs 3 crores, and engaging Akshaya Patra, the well-known NGO headed by Sudha Murthy, wife of Infosys founder Narayana Murthy that runs midday meal schemes for 1.5 million children, to run Delhi’s midday meal programme.
A demand for full statehood to the national capital: The AAP government had also unveiled a draft bill seeking full statehood for Delhi, seeking to take control of departments like police and land records and this was quite bitterly received by both Jung and the Centre.