In 1984, when Andhra Pradesh Governor Ramlal dismissed the NTR government, the confrontation was taken to Delhi and ultimately Indira Gandhi had to reinstate Rama Rao, sacking Ramlal. When Dr. Chenna Reddy was the governor of Tamil Nadu, he and chief minister Jayalalitha even held separate receptions for Prime Minister when he landed at the Chennai airport. There had been many other instances pertaining to Governors like Buta Singh, Sibde Razi, Kamla, Romesh Bhandari, Kesarinath Tripathi and the list goes on.

The present row came in the backdrop of a series of clashes between Kejriwal and Jung in the past two years. During Kejriwal’s first stint as chief minister Jung advised the Speaker of Delhi Assembly not to admit the Jan Lokpal bill but the AAP had gone ahead and tabled it. Between his first and second stints, Kejriwal had accused Jung of functioning as the agent of the BJP when Jung did not dissolve the house after the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Recently the chief minister has ordered his ministers and bureaucrats not to send files pertaining to land police and law and order to the Lt Governor. In return, Jung has ordered the officials to route all files through his office as he has been empowered by the Constitution. The officials are caught in this crossfire.

According to Kerjriwal, in appointing Shakuntala Gamlin as the Acting Chief Secretary for ten days when the chief secretary Sharma was abroad, Jung had bypassed the chief minister and the elected government and had overstepped in doing so. There are allegations and counter-allegations about the process. The contradiction is because Delhi does not have full statehood. After Delhi's elevation to a full-fledged assembly with legislative roles, its position has changed. Therefore, there is need for a clear demarcation of power between the Centre and the state. Kejriwal too had realised this limitation of his powers and during his first stint as chief minister protested against the police.

The problem is due to the multiplicity of authorities, which often creates confusion. The former chief minister Sheila Dikshit had been demanding full statehood for Delhi during her fifteen years of regime. When the Nirbhaya rape incident took place, she stressed it further that the police was not under her. Delhi is the seat of power and the Centre wants to have control over police, land and bureaucracy.

Secondly, Kejriwal is a master showman. Last time he gave up power after 49 days when he knew he could not deliver. Now almost after three months he is aware that the road ahead is bumpy. Delhi suffers from many issues like lack of health facilities, toilets, civic amenities increasing number of homeless and malnutrition. There is bound to be water and electricity problems during the summer. So the easiest way to escape is to blame the Centre or the LG.

Thirdly, the AAP is bursting at its seams after its spectacular victory in the 2014 Assembly polls. Kejriwal has removed his detractors like Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan from the party. Kejriwal finds it difficult to run the party and the government and what better way than to divert the attention of the people by creating scapegoats?

Fourthly, Kejriwal has built a personality cult around himself. He is unable to tolerate any other authority like the Centre or the L-G coming in his way. Therefore he has returned to his street politics, of which he is an expert. Although Kejriwal had apologised to the pubic and promised that he would concentrate on governance the promised transition from activism to governance is yet to take place.

In all this confusion, the other political parties have jumped in as expected. Most of them including the BJP are smarting under the humiliation of Delhi results. While the BJP is fully supporting the LG as the Centre is working through him, the Congress, CPI-M, JD (U) and other parties demand that the elected chief minister should have a say in appointments.

Fifthly, within these 100 days, Kejriwal has taken on bureaucracy to Lt Governor to media to businessmen and the list is only getting longer. His projection of every other section other than himself and his cronies are “chor” has not endeared him.

The time has come for the chief minister and the Lt governor to resolve their differences amicably. Former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit is right when she says that “atmosphere of confrontation” would be created if there were no coordination between the LG and the CM.

The matter is now with the President Pranab Mukherjee and he must have told both the chief minister and Kejriwal to hold their fire until a solution is found. He has already referred the matter to the Union Home Ministry. So the fight will now be between Kejriwal and Home ministry. This brings to the fore the need for a clear demarcation of powers between the two as the legal experts have divided opinion. Kejriwal has come with an unprecedented mandate and so has Modi. The confrontation would only continue with newer issues emerging as the time goes if the leaders resort to public spat. (IPA Service)