NEW DELHI: The capital is headed for a fresh round of tussle between Chief Minister Arvind Kerjiwal and Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal. Last week, the CM lashed out at the state’s bureaucracy, especially secretaries, in the Assembly saying, “Desh bureaucracy se nahi chalta, democracy se chalta hai (A country is run on democracy, not bureaucracy).” Angered over Kejriwal’s attack on them, the bureaucrats have planned to meet Baijal.
Even a senior woman IAS officer of the Delhi government defended the bureaucracy on Twitter, but later deleted her two tweets tweeted following Kejriwal’s aggressive speech. During the Assembly session held to discuss regularisation of guest teachers, Kejriwal took exception to Baijal's objection that the government did not consult the law department before introducing the Bill. “People did not elect the law secretary, they elected us. We are Delhi's masters. They (bureaucrats) will follow our orders,” he said. But, sources in the L-G office are claiming that the file of regularisation of guest teachers will be sent back.
Just after his speech, a senior woman IAS officer in the state government tweeted the definition of civil servant and said that bureaucracy is also working for the public under the Constitution. But she deleted the tweets on October 4. When The Sunday Standard contacted the officer to find out the reason behind deleting the tweets, she didn’t deny deleting the tweets and said she tweets a lot and it’s no one’s business what she tweets, when and why.
Meanwhile, a senior IAS officer said, “We will meet L-G regarding government’s behaviour towards bureaucracy.” The government, however, claimed that a nexus between the BJP, Baijal and bureaucrats is working against the Aam Aadmi Party-led government. “Almost 10 days ago, the BJP sent a press release backing PWD Secretary Ashwani Kumar. Why a political party is sending press releases for an officer working with the Delhi government? Some officers are directly taking orders from them,” an AAP leader said. “When a minister asks for a file, bureaucrats deny. What state secrets do these files contain that they cannot be shown to us? I want to tell the L-G that I am an elected CM and not a terrorist,” Kejriwal had said in the Assembly.