Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal speaking at the Delhi Assembly.
In an attack on the BJP, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal drew some laughs on Tuesday evening as he explained his predicament to the Delhi Assembly, soon after the House passed the state's Budget.
"The Centre has us in a jam... Today, the Delhi government has two home secretaries, two SHOs, two heads of the Anti-Corruption Branch," the Chief Minister said, referring to the fallout of his bitter battle over key appointments in Delhi with Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, who represents the Centre in the capital.
Mr Kejriwal also said, "I wrote to Modi-ji 10 days ago, but he is very busy, it seems."
The Aam Aadmi Party said yesterday that Mr Kejriwal's request for a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi was met with the suggestion that the chief minister could meet Finance Minister Arun Jaitley or Home Minister Rajnath Singh if he had anything "urgent to discuss, since the PM was pre-occupied with national responsibilities.
The party said Mr Kejriwal wants to meet the PM to resolve the ongoing power tussle with Mr Jung. The Kejriwal government lost the latest round on Monday with a court ruling that Mr Jung's nominee MK Meena would remain the head of Delhi's Anti-Corruption Branch instead of the police officer handpicked by the chief minister.
"We are not the BJP," Mr Kejriwal told the Assembly, "to promise people Rs 15 lakh and later ask them to get mats and practice yoga... or promise 'corruption-free India' and end up sweeping roads for Swaatch Bharat."
The chief minister also claimed that he had been congratulated by BJP lawmaker Vijendra Gupta for a presenting a "fabulous budget" a few days ago.
Earlier in the day, Mr Gupta had energetically demonstrated his party's disapproval of the AAP government's policies by tearing up a copy of a bill and joining his two colleagues in breaking mics and staging a walkout.
The three BJP lawmakers in the Delhi assembly are hopelessly outnumbered - Mr Kejriwal's party dominates with 67 members. As they all burst into laughter at their party chief's revelation, Mr Kejriwal delivered the punchline, "I asked him, 'Why don't you say this in media? He said, 'We have political compulsions, you understand'."
Mr Gupta joined in the laughter.