New Delhi: Rattled by President Pranab Mukherjee's rejection of an amendment aimed at retrospectively exempting the appointment of 21 AAP MLAs as parliamentary secretaries, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has once again trained his guns at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"One MLAs had been dedicated to electricity, one to water, one to hospitals and one to schools. Modi ji says, 'I will not work, neither will I let you work'," tweeted Kejriwal. "Modi ji is panicking over the good work that is being done in Delhi," he added.
The Delhi CM said the 21 parliamentary secretaries were not being given any compensation for the work they were doing. "None of the MLAs have been paid a single rupee, nor a vehicle or a bungalow. All the MLAs were working for free."
“Modi ji says all of you sit at home, no one should work," he added.
Yesterday, President Pranab Mukherjee had refused to give his assent to a bill meant to exclude the post of parliamentary secretaries from the list of "office of profit".
The bill was passed by the Delhi Assembly last year to validate the post of legislators, who got their appointment on March 13, 2015.
With the President rejecting the bill, the 21 AAP MLAs face disqualification – leading to fresh polls in the seats held by them. AAP has 67 seats in the 70-member Assembly.
The matter reached the President after several petitions seeking disqualification of the legislators – on the grounds that they occupied office of profit in violation of the Constitution - was submitted to him.
The President had referred the issue to the Election Commission, which sought the replies of the legislators. Following the Presidential order on the issue, the EC will decide on the fate of the MLAs soon, reports said.
