NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant on Sunday denied Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s allegation that Lt. Governor Anil Baijal replaced him at its fourth Governing Council meeting, saying Kejriwal was repeatedly asked to come to the meeting.
“Arvind Kejriwal was invited like all the other Chief Ministers. We repeatedly asked him to come to the meeting but there was no communication from his side,” Kant said in a press conference after the meeting. He also clarified that Lt. Governor could not be in the meeting because “he is not the member of NITI AAayog Governing Council”.
Kant said Kejriwal has tweeted that Lt. Governor was present in the meeting “so we also clarified through the tweet that he was not present”. In the morning, Kejriwal questioned Lt. Governor’s presence in the meeting in place of him. “Under which provision of the Constitution does LG have powers to replace the Chief Minister? I have not authorised him to go in my place,” Kejriwal had tweeted.
Kant, replying to Kejriwal’s tweet, said: “This is totally incorrect. Lt. Governor of Delhi is not present at the Fourth Meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog.”
Kejriwal didn’t attend the NITI Aayog meeting because he is on protest at the Lt Governor’s office. He, along with Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Cabinet ministers Satyendar Jain and Gopal Rai, is camping at Raj Niwas since Monday demanding a direction to the IAS officers working in the Delhi administration to end their undeclared strike. He also wants the Central government to approve his government’s proposal to deliver ration to the poor at their houses.