The Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday branded Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung as a threat to democracy after he reportedly suggested that he could consider the proposal of doing away with the Delhi assembly.
Indicating that Jung has Prime Minister Narendra Modi's backing, the AAP said that it smells a larger "conspiracy" behind the continuing attacks on the Delhi government.
"This is definitely the voice of Modi," AAP leader Kumar Vishwas told the media.
In an interview with a TV channel, Jung reportedly told the interviewer that he was willing to consider a proposal to do away with the Delhi assembly following a Delhi High Court ruling that gives the Lt Governor the final say in matters of administration in the national capital.
"On the one hand, Modiji talks about cooperative federalism while on the other (LG) talks about dismissing the assembly. Such people are a threat to democracy," Kumar Vishwas said.
A poet-turned-politician Kumar Vishwas, who rarely addresses the media despite being a confidant of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, said the LG had no power to scrap any legislature. This lay with parliament.
"We challenge the Modi government to get the proposal scrapping the Delhi assembly passed in parliament," he said. "Jung's threat to dissolve the Delhi assembly is tantamount to overriding the constitution."
The AAP leader said PM Modi was rattled by the party's expanding base in Punjab, Goa and Gujarat.
"It is a litmus test being done in Delhi by the Modi government to impose Emergency in the country," Kumar Vishwas said.
But he expressed confidence that just as the Supreme Court did in the case of Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, it would favour the elected government in Delhi too.
The AAP government is set to challenge the high court verdict in the apex court.
Kumar Vishwas also took objection to Jung's reported suggestion to Kejriwal to apologize to Modi for repeatedly attacking the Prime Minister.
“Both Modi and Kejriwal, he said, were political personalities and one could always debate if the verbal attacks they have launched against each other was right or not,” Vishwas said.
But the Lt. Governor held a constitutional post and it was demeaning for him to make such a suggestion to Kejriwal, he added.
Asking Jung to shed his hatred for Kejriwal, the AAP leader said the Lt Governor must meditate to calm himself.
"Or if he wants to take on the AAP, he must resign as the L-G and fight elections from any seat in Punjab," Kumar Vishwas said. "Or he can contest from any safe seat in Goa or Gujarat."
Earlier, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain accused Jung of "speaking the language of the Viceroy and Churchill" by suggesting that the Delhi assembly can be scrapped.
Jain also opposed Jung's reported order to senior officials in the Delhi government to send to him files that needed his signature.
Jung "has never fought any election, yet he has reached the top. It is but natural he will say this.
"The (British) Viceroy also used to say that India cannot be given complete independence," Jain said. "Winston Churchill used to say Indians cannot govern themselves.
"The Lt Governor is speaking the language of the Viceroy and Churchill."
