The ongoing slugfest between the AAP government and lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung turned uglier as Delhi home minister Satyendar Jain complained to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal about being pressur
The ongoing slugfest between the AAP government and lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung turned uglier as Delhi home minister Satyendar Jain complained to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal about being pressurised by Mr Jung to grant parole to jailed Indian National Lok Dal leader Om Prakash Chautala, former chief minister of Haryana.
Chautala is currently imprisoned in Tihar after being convicted in a case related to teachers’ recruitment in Haryana.
The L-G’s office on Friday rubbished the AAP government’s allegation and accused it instead of “insisting” that Mr Jung withdraw criminal cases against AAP leaders, including chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The LG house alleged that the AAP-led Delhi government had mounted pressure on Mr Jung to withdraw 24 criminal cases registered against its leaders, including Mr Kejriwal. “On September 11, Delhi home minister Satyendar Jain brought a file containing the details of criminal cases pending against the Delhi chief minister and other senior AAP leaders. Mr Jain asked Mr Jung to clear the file by withdrawing 24 cases against the AAP leaders which are pending in various Delhi courts,” a statement from the L-G’s office said. Mr Jung’s OSD Ajay Chaudhary said that Mr Jain had himself fixed the meeting with the L-G and had requested withdrawing 24 cases against the AAP leaders, including chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, pending in various courts. Another meeting was held on the same issue on September 11.
“The Delhi government is lying about mounting pressure on its minister (Satyendar Jain) regarding considering Mr Chautala’s parole. It is trying to work beyond their constitutional framework. They are trying to politicise the matter,” the L-G’ office said.
Rejecting the claim, the AAP government said it had recommended withdrawal of prosecution against a number of political leaders, including from both the BJP and Congress. It said the list includes Congress’ Mukesh Sharma and BJP’s Vijay Goel, Parvesh Verma and Vijendra Gupta.
The AAP, scaling up its offensive on the L-G, challenged him to deny that Mr Jain was being “pressurised” by him to grant parole to Chautala. AAP spokesperson Raghav Chadha alleged that Mr Jung is defending the Haryana leader and misleading the media. Mr Chadha also questioned Mr Jung’s motive as the L-G office released a press statement on Friday.
“On October 16, Om Prakash Chautala’s second parole application request was received. the L-G summoned Mr Jain on October 21, pressurised him to grant parole to Mr Chautala and questioned why the 84-year-old INLD leader wasn’t getting his parole granted,” the AAP spokesperson said.
Mr Jung’s office did not mention the second parole plea by Mr Chautala, it claimed the L-G had come to know about it “informally” and had mentioned it during a meeting with Mr Jain on October 21. “It was brought to the notice of the home minister that parole case of Om Prakash Chautala is pending with the home department and should be processed on merit without political considerations. Delay in processing the file by the home department is not reasonable as the convict is 84 years old and has had medical history,” the L-G office said.
“The L-G showed special interest in this transfer plea and asked state home department official to send him the file. He did not ask for the file through official channels (as per Delhi Transaction of Business Rules and SCT Act). Why does the L-G want to shift a convict from where the Aam Aadmi Party government is present to another state’s jail where the BJP’s government is present ” the AAP spokesperson asked.
He added that in May, when another plea by Mr Chautala was received asking for an extension of parole by one month be granted to him, Delhi’s home minister in writing had said that this parole request was unwarranted. “This file when sent to L-G’s office was disregarded and one-month extension was granted to Mr Chautala. We ask the L-G if this is true or not that he showed special interest in Chautala’s case even in the month of May, rejected the Delhi government’s recommendation and granted a month’s extension to him,” he added.
On Thursday, the Delhi Congress questioned both the BJP and AAP on the issue of the parole plea of the former Haryana chief minister and alleged move to transfer him to the jail in Bathinda, Punjab.
