The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has blamed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi for the delay in the presentation of the city’s budget, which was scheduled for Tuesday, and accused chief minister Arvind Kejriwal of leaving the country embarrassed.
Leader of Opposition in the Delhi assembly, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said lieutenant governor (LG) V K Saxena has the right to raise objections if the government wastes the taxpayers’ money.
Delhi BJP working president Virendra Sachdeva said Arvind Kejriwal has always been doing work that leaves the country embarrassed. “To hide his mistakes, Kejriwal has always been making unbridled allegations against the Prime Minister. Kejriwal should tell how many times he had meetings with the officials regarding the preparations for the budget,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Kejriwal had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him not to stop the budget.
“For the first time in the country’s 75-year history, the budget of a state has been stopped. Why are you angry with us Delhiites? Please don’t stop the Delhi budget. The people of Delhi are requesting you with folded hands to pass our budget,” Kejriwal wrote in his letter to the PM, an official said.
In the assembly on Tuesday, Delhi finance minister Kailash Gahlot said the Budget 2023-24 presentation has been postponed and that an elected government has been stopped from presenting it for the first time in the country’s history.
The budget requires approval from the President through the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) and officials aware of the development at MHA have said that the approval had been held up because of some queries raised by the lieutenant governor (LG).
The AAP has accused Delhi chief secretary Naresh Kumar of conspiring to derail the budget process at the behest of the central government.
AAP chief spokesperson and Delhi cabinet minister Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that the chief secretary had sat on the Centre’s letter with queries regarding the Delhi Budget 2023-24 proposals for three days from March 17 till March 20.
HT has reached out to the LG’s office and the chief secretary for their reaction.
