‘No L-G vs CM, Jung in tussle with Delhiites’

On the day his party’s rural wing staged a protest outside lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung’s residence to oppose quashing of the Delhi government’s notification on revised circle rates, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal alleged that Mr Jung is not in a tussle with him, but with the entire city, farmers and women.

Mr Kejriwal’s comments comes a day after he appealed to Mr Jung not to cancel the public welfare decisions taken by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government since it came to power in February 2015. “It has become LG vs farmers, LG vs advocates, LG vs women, LG vs Delhiites,” Mr Kejriwal said in a tweet.

In response to a remark that a “LG vs CM” battle was also on, Mr Kejriwal responded, “No. There is no LG vs CM. CM is too small a person and has no personal interests”.

The party’s rural wing staged a protest outside the L-G’s residence to oppose his decision to quash the Delhi government’s notification on increasing circle rates of agricultural land in the capital.

The AAP supporters accused Mr Jung of favouring builders rather than farmers and said the hike in circle rates of agricultural land would have benefited them.

The Delhi government last year increased the circle rates of agricultural land in Delhi. But the L-G asked the government to withdraw the notification since his approval was not taken.

Rajeev Sinsinwala, the AAP’s rural wing leader, said: “The lieutenant-governor’s decision to cancel the order on circle rates comes out of his concern for big builders. He has done injustice to the farmers.”

“He (Mr Jung) has cancelled almost all government orders meant to benefit the common man,” Mr Sinsinwala said in a statement.

According to him, the order on the circle rates would have helped farmers get increased compensation for their agricultural land, from Rs 1 crore to Rs 3.5 crore.

Earlier on Sunday, Mr Kejriwal said the L-G has declared a virtual war on the people of Delhi. “It has become LG vs farmers, LG vs advocates, LG vs women, LG vs Delhiites,” he said on Twitter.