After 27 years, the Bharatiya Janata Party has come to power in the National Capital, Delhi, with a clear majority of 48 seats in the 70-member legislative assembly. This marks the end of the non-BJP rule in the capital region and the beginning of another spell of same-party rule at the center and the state [Double-engine government in the national capital]. It would be interesting to see if this development will bring an end to the prolonged war between the lieutenant governor and the chief minister of the capital.
The rift between the then Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the Lieutenant Governor (LG) started from the time BJP came to power at the center in 2014 and this continued till the day the AAP lost power. In its 10-year rule, the Aam Aadmi Party was often locked in fights with the three successive LGs, which never struck a balance between the two and led to the change in the LGs. Since taking office, LG Najeeb Jung has been involved in an ongoing jurisdictional dispute with Arvind Kejriwal.
Delhi has its organic act, the National Capital Territory of Delhi Act (1992), and its legislature. However, the Chief Minister and the Lt. Governor have not been able to interpret the operating rules in the same way. After the rift, LG Najeeb Jung resigned from the post on 22nd December 2016. Then, Anil Baijal was appointed as the Lieutenant Governor and he served to complete the five-year term in May 2022. Vinai Kumar Saxena has been the LG since then. Kejriwal had a power struggle with Baijal and Saxena, too.
Kejriwal and Najeeb Jung had differences over important issues like assent to the Jan Lok Pal bill and transfer and appointment of bureaucrats. The strained relations continued even under Anil Baijal and the Supreme Court intervened and concluded that Delhi LG did not have absolute powers. Of all the issues, the control of the Anti-Corruption Bureau remained at the top. With the present LG, Kejriwal and Atishi Marlena had a rift over civic issues.
On 21st March 2024, Kejriwal was arrested and jailed in connection with the Delhi liquor policy money laundering case. After an interim bail, he was again arrested in the same case wherein he served a jail term of five months. He was finally granted bail on 13th September 2024 by the Supreme Court. Thereafter, Atishi Marlena Singh, who was the Education Minister in Kejriwal’s cabinet, was named as the Chief Minister of Delhi when Kejriwal resigned from the post. Even under the Atishi caretaker government, the differences with the LG prevailed over miscellaneous issues such as the demolitions of the temples in Delhi. After the AAP lost in recent Assembly elections, she tendered her resignation. However, Atishi won from her constituency—Kalkaji– against BJP’s Ramesh Bidhuri.
In the Delhi assembly election victory speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that “the people of Delhi got rid of AAPda [calamity] and brought the double-engine government in the national capital to power.” He further assured that the new Government will build Delhi as a modern city and bring development.
It is to be noted that the LG is appointed by the President of India on the advice of the Union Cabinet and thus he will be a handpicked nominee of BJP. The new BJP CM Rekha Gupta and the LG Vinai Kumar Saxena will thus have cordial relations to take mutual decisions. This will help the development of the national capital region. Now that BJP is in power, it is likely that the government and LG will work in consensus.
When the same party was in power at the center and in the capital, this had shown some mutual understanding between the CM and LG in the past. Former CM Sheila Dikshit’s first five-year tenure was during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government at the Center and the other 10 years were under the UPA rule. Sheila Dikshit is known for revolutionizing the capital city through her development work in improving the Metro network, highways, and flyovers.
Reacting to recent election results, BJP’s Delhi president Virendra Sachdeva said that his party respects constitutional authorities and that the government will work to serve the people. He asserted that the BJP would now work to make Delhi an ‘advanced capital’ in coordination and cooperation with everyone. He thus promised cordial relations between the Chief Minister and the Lieutenant Governor.
BJP CM to-do list
The first task the new BJP government has to take up is to try to resolve the Anti-Corruption Bureau issue. It should strive to implement the poll manifesto promises. One of its major promises is to continue welfare schemes and free them from corruption and discrepancies. It should work to take up infrastructure development, especially since LG Saxena had accused Kejriwal of neglecting critical civic and infrastructure development in the past decade.
Similarly, Kejriwal had alleged that the law and order were in complete disarray under the LG’s control. Now, both the LG and the new CM have to work on resolving issues that had cropped up under the AAP regime. Both the CM and LG should tackle the Delhi air pollution issue by bringing in robust rules. From taking up work to clean up the Yamuna River to initiating new welfare schemes, the new government can maintain a fine balance with the LG. As BJP vowed to investigate corruption charges against AAP, it should deliver a clean and corruption-free administration.
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