BJP Govt Insecure About Kejriwal: Sisodia on Passing of NCT Bill

“People have started saying that Arvind Kejriwal can be an option to PM Modi,” Manish Sisodia said on Thursday.

File image of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.

(Photo: PTI)

A day after the Centre’s controversial Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2021, was passed by the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, 24 March, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that the move showed that the BJP government was feeling insecure about CM Arvind Kejriwal.

“People have started saying that Arvind Kejriwal can be an option to Modi. The Bill has been brought to stop Kejriwal from moving ahead,” Sisodia said, addressing a press conference on Thursday.

"Everyone is talking about the Modi model (of development). People are talking about how the Modi model is failing and that Arvind Kejriwal can be an alternate...Kejriwal doesn't do tokenism. That's why they have lost sleep over it," Sisodia added.

“PM Modi has come down to negative politics today. So he'll get a political reply. We're talking to our legal experts and exploring our options,” Sisodia said, adding that CM Kejriwal is a fighter and would fight this move.

"They want to put obstacles against what Kejriwal has been doing. But Kejriwal is a fighter...he will not stop because of the obstacles," Sisodia said.

On Wednesday, after the Bill was passed in the Upper House, CM Kejriwal took to Twitter to declare it a “sad day for Indian democracy”. The Lok Sabha had passed the Bill on 22 March.

The Bill proposes that the government in the national capital territory of Delhi means the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi. It gives discretionary powers to the L-G even in matters where the Legislative Assembly of Delhi is empowered to make laws.

The proposed legislation also seeks to ensure that the Lieutenant Governor is necessarily granted an opportunity to give their opinion before any decision taken by the Council of Ministers or the Delhi Cabinet is implemented.