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.
Atishi said that imposing President's rule in Delhi would be "unconstitutional".
"The people of Delhi have given a clear mandate to Arvind Kejriwal ji and to the AAP. On February 17, Arvind Kejriwal's government had proved its majority by conducting a floor test in the Delhi Assembly. It is very clear in the Constitution of India that President's rule cannot be imposed when a government has the confidence of its House," she said.
In 2016, when President's rule was imposed in Uttarakhand, the Uttarakhand High Court had ordered a floor test. After the government won the trust vote, President's rule was revoked in the state.
Later in the day, Atishi's cabinet colleague Saurabh Bharadwaj spoke in the same vein.
"The BJP and the lieutenant governor are talking about a constitutional crisis in Delhi. This shows that there is a conspiracy to impose President's rule in Delhi. The BJP has been defeated twice in Delhi in 2015 and 2020 and it knows it cannot form the government in Delhi. Even if elections are held today, Arvind Kejriwal will win," he said.
"President's rule was imposed in Delhi throughout 2014. We had approached the Supreme Court at that time. Subsequently, elections were held and the AAP came to power in 2015. People gave them a reply for imposing President's rule. If President's rule is imposed in Delhi, the people of Delhi will again give them a reply," he said.
AAP's chief national spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said the people of Delhi prefer Kejriwal's positive politics of education, healthcare and free electricity.
"The BJP has to understand the voice of the people of Delhi and stop such conspiracies," she said.
Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva dismissed Atishi's allegations and said it is "surprising how the fear of President's rule is haunting the party which has 62 MLAs".
"Today, Atishi has left her old fabricated story of 'Operation Lotus' against the AAP and woven a new story of President rule imposition in Delhi. Today, she has said that President rule is likely to be imposed in Delhi," he said.
Sachdeva said it is true that after 2013, Kejriwal has formed the government twice in Delhi. But during this time, the people of Delhi gave the BJP a big lead in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the 2017 municipal elections.
"It would not be an exaggeration to say that the same people of Delhi who elected Arvind Kejriwal's government twice with a huge majority also gave full support to Narendra Modi for the central government," he said.
Sachdeva also demanded the resignation of Kejriwal, who has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case.
"It would be better if Arvind Kejriwal resigns. Hand over the government to a new chief minister and let Delhi's administration run properly," he said.
Kejriwal has been arrested by the ED in the money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped 2021-22 Delhi excise policy.
He is in judicial custody till April 15 and is currently lodged in Tihar jail.