Who is Delhi’s boss? SC to decide today

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will on Wednesday deliver its verdict on the constant power struggle between the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party government and the Centre, represented by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, in Delhi.

A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra will rule on who wields the power of administration and governance over the national capital at 10.30 am on Wednesday.

Last month, Kejriwal held an unprecedented nineday protest against the Lieutenant Governor at his office, who, the Delhi chief minister says, is working in a brazenly partisan fashion and at the instance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to prevent the Delhi government from functioning.

Specifically, the chief minister contended, bureaucrats or IAS officers refused to show up to work - or working only selectively and the Lieutenant Governor must intervene to change that.

The conflict with IAS officers erupted late in February when Anshu Prakash, the Chief Secretary or seniormost bureaucrat, alleged that he was assaulted at a midnight meeting at the Chief Minister’s house. Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party or AAP denies the accusation; and he was interrogated for several hours, a move that was also described by political opponents of the BJP as blatant harassment of an elected Chief Minister.

The bureaucrats are seen as caught in the middle of the crossfire between AAP and the BJP, which is often accused by regional parties, including some of its allies, of disrespecting the fundamental rights of states.

Kejriwal claims that since his AAP won all but three seats in Delhi in 2015, defeating the BJP’S campaign which was led by PM Modi, he is being targetted for a victory that BJP cannot swallow.