Bill will render people of Delhi helpless: CM

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday accused the Centre of "backstabbing" the people of Delhi after the Lok Sabha passed the contentious Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023, moving a step closer to placing the control of services in the Capital with the Union government

- Alok KN Mishra

The bill, piloted by Union home minister Amit Shah, was passed by the Lok Sabha on Thursday after heated discussion. After the conclusion of the discussion, Speaker Om Birla suspended AAP's lone Lok Sabha member Sunil Kumar Rinku for throwing papers at the chair during the debate.

Delhi chief minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejrival said the bill is aimed at snatching away the rights of the people of Delhi.

"Today in the Lok Sabha, I heard Amit Shah ji speaking on the bill which snatches away the rights of the people of Delhi. He did not have a single valid argument to support the bill. He was just talking about unrelated issues. He also knows that he was doing wrong. This bill is a bill to enslave the people of Delhi. The bill makes them helpless. INDIA will never let this happen," Kejriwal tweeted, referring to the Opposition's Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance.

Once cleared by the Rajya Sabha, the bill will replace the ordinance promulgated by the President on May 19 to allow the Centre to retain control over the bureaucracy in Delhi, effectively rolling back a Constitution bench judgment of the Supreme Court in May. The Constitution bench ruled that the bureaucracy, excluding in the matters of police, public order and land, is under the control of the elected government in Delhi.