AAP hopes for better ties with Delhi’s new Lt. Governor Baijal

new delhi — President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday accepted Delhi’s Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung’s resignation and appointed Anil Baijal as his successor.

Delhi Tourism and Culture Minister Kapil Mishra welcomed Baijal’s appointment as Delhi’s Lt. Governor and said he was hopeful of cooperation from the new Lt. Governor.

“I welcome his (Baijal’s) appointment. I am hopeful that the new L-G will clear several development projects of the government which have been stopped. Hopefully the blockade will end now,” Mishra said.

An official statement earlier announced: “The president has been pleased to appoint Anil Baijal to be the Lt. Governor of National Capital Territory of Delhi with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office.”

“The president has accepted Jung’s resignation as Lt. governor of Delhi,” the statement read.

Baijal’s appointment came a week after Jung suddenly resigned on December 22, taking everyone by surprise.

“We hope that being a senior bureaucrat, Baijal will follow the constitutional guidelines. Fight between former LG Najeeb Jung and the AAP government was not personal,” Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national secretary Sardar R.P. Singh said.

“He only followed constitutional steps which were opposed by the Delhi government,” Singh said.

A 1969 batch Indian Administrative Service officer, Baijal was in the executive council of the thinktank Vivekananda International Foundation. —