L-G nominates Kailash Gahlot to hoist national flag at I-Day event

Lt. Governor VK Saxena on Tuesday nominated Delhi Home minister Kailash Gahlot to hoist the national flag at the state-level Independence Day event, bypassing the AAP government’s request to allow Education minister Atishi to do so.

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The ruling Aam Aadmi Party, however, welcomed the L-G’s decision, saying it honoured the principle of democracy by “choosing an elected representative over an appointed one”.

Earlier in the day, a row brewed over the issue with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) lashing out at Saxena after the general administration department refused to implement Minister Gopal Rai’s direction to let Atishi hoist the tricolour in place of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, saying it was legally “invalid”.

Kejriwal, currently in Tihar Jail in the Delhi excise police case, wrote to L-G on August 6, seeking the flag hoisting by Atishi, considered close to him, in his absence at the Delhi government’s annual event on August 15. His letter, however, was held back by jail authorities on the ground that the chief minister’s communication was not “permissible”.

The L-G nominated Gahlot for hoisting of the national flag after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Tuesday authorised him to nominate any minister of the Delhi government for the same.