Delhi's AAP government on Monday listed 11 focus areas of its work on completion of 100 days in office as Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for being "dictatorial".
The Aam Aadmi Party government, which is in a tussle with the central government over powers related to posting and transfer of senior officials, held a public meeting at Central Park in Connaught Place to mark its 100 days.
At the venue - thronged by thousands of enthusiastic AAP supporters who raised slogans to back the party's claims for more power to run the government in Delhi - Kejriwal, accompanied by his entire cabinet, pulled no punches in hitting out at the Modi government.
Listing the government's achievements, AAP leaders said they had ensured cheap power and water, brought down corruption significantly and ensured that the dwellings of the poor were not razed.
Apparently emboldened by the Delhi High Court's verdict on Monday that the city government's Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) has the "jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute" Delhi Police officials, Kejriwal said god was on the side of his party and it had nothing to fear.
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"We are not fighting with the centre, we want to work with them. But the BJP-led central government is imposing dictatorship in Delhi as they can not digest the absolute majority of the AAP in elections," he claimed.
"We told the prime minister that you have majority in parliament and we have it in the assembly (Delhi). And it is a golden opportunity to give Delhi statehood, but this is dictatorship," Kejriwal said.
The appointment of the acting chief secretary by Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung had triggered a turf war between him and Kejriwal. While this was resolved, the union home ministry in an order last week said the Lt. Governor will have the final say in matters related to public, police, services and land. It had also taken away the ACB's power to prosecute "officers, employees and functionaries" of the central government.
Kejriwal praised his ministers for their work and also lauded the bureaucrats.
"Without these officers, we would have been zero. We have come this far because of them," he said pointing towards the bureaucrats on the dais.
Congratulating the people of Delhi over the high court verdict on ACB's powers, Kejriwal said: "Earlier during our 49-day tenure, the ACB had started a probe against big people who were involved in corrupt practices. Once our tenure was over, the central government released an order limiting the powers of the ACB to probe Delhi government staff."
"In the order, the BJP limited the jurisdiction of the ACB saying it could conduct a probe only against officials of the Delhi government, whereas since its inception, it (ACB) had been given powers to probe any officer in Delhi whether he is of central government, Delhi government, MCD or of Delhi police, if involved in corrupt practices," he said.
Kejriwal also said 11 focus areas of his government included power, water, education, health, women's safety, jhuggi clusters, unauthorised colonies, traffic, pollution, and price rise.
The public meeting came a day ahead of the special session of the Delhi assembly called by the Kejriwal government over the home ministry notification on the Lt. Governor's powers.
