AAP, Lt Governor At Loggerheads Over Funding For Delhi’s G20 Makeover

New Delhi:

 Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Monday said the Constitution does not give LG V K Saxena “power to sanction money” for projects in the national capital, amid a war of words between the BJP and AAP over funding of projects for G20 Summit.

Reacting to Bharadwaj’s remarks, Mr Saxena said if someone wants to take credit for the work done by him, they can, while noting that if that was the scenario, it meant that the Centre is doing good work.

On Sunday, the BJP said Delhi’s makeover for the G20 Summit has been funded by the Centre and accused the ruling AAP dispensation in the national capital of claiming credit for it.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) hit back, saying that it is shocked to see that the “BJP had to pass the developmental work done by the city government as its own”.

On Monday, Mr Bharadwaj said, “Whatever work done by PWD and MCD is done using taxpayers’ money. PWD did not even get a penny from the Centre.” Mr Bharadwaj said this when asked by reporters about BJP’s claims, after his visit to the iconic British-era Town Hall and Ghalib ki Haveli in the Walled City.

Sharing a list of the projects, the minister said 89 roads have been beautified by PWD, and the work involved cleaning, planting of trees and resurfacing them.

“It is Delhi government’s money and by that I mean it is taxpayers’ money. There is no money given by the Centre or LG. Some people are having this misunderstanding that it is LG’s money,” Mr Bharadwaj asserted.

Citing the Constitution, he said, “Show me any article of the Constitution or lawbook that gives LG power to sanction even a single penny.” “PWD engineer can sanction Rs 20 lakh because he is answerable to the department that is accountable to minister, who in turn is answerable to the Vidhan Sabha, which is accountable to people. LG sahab has no accountability. He has not been given power by the Constitution. He should not get angry with us. He can inspect our roads. Even prime minister, home minister can inspect our roads. We don’t have any objection,” the minister said.

Mr Bharadwaj opined that the Centre was “belittling itself” by talking about funding.

Later in the day, LG Saxena reacted to Mr Bharadwaj’s remarks during a DDA event.

“I don’t want to comment much on it. But would only like to say that we will continue doing our work. If someone wants to take credit for it, they can. I am satisfied with this thing that if I am doing some work and someone wants to take credit for it, it means that we are doing good,” he told PTI Video.

Even on earlier occasions, the LG office and AAP dispensation have sparred over the issue of taking credit for projects.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)