JOIN USChief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of paralysing the Anti-Corruption Branch even as the Delhi government warned that it plans to take action against the LG-appointed ACB chief M K Meena for starting two new telephone lines for taking anti-graft complaints.
Kejriwal levelled the charge against Modi in a letter addressed to Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung mainly on the issue of the appointment of a new chief at the Delhi Commission for Women. He said the Prime Minister earlier paralysed the ACB and now, through the LG, has done the same to the women commission.
The Delhi government’s outburst against Meena came after sources confirmed that Meena has started two new phone lines to accept corruption complaints. Meena started the two new phone lines claiming the complaints being received on the Delhi government’s existing anti-corrption helpline were not being forwarded to the ACB for action.
The Delhi government retorted by claiming that Meena is not the ACB Chief. “He is just assigned to look after the work of training and monitoring of trial cases at ACB,” said a statement.
“S S Yadav, IPS, is the chief of ACB. Any decision regarding the ACB as its chief is to be taken by Yadav only. Meena’s statement on the helpline is sheer case of impersonation and the Delhi Government will take action against him for the same,” said a Delhi government statement.
“Meena was posted at the ACB in an illegal manner at the behest of the Prime Minister to scuttle the anti-corruption drive of the Delhi government. The anti-corruption helpline 1031 stands as the helpline for all anti-corruption complaints in Delhi. No other helpline is working for this purpose,” said the statement.
‘Confusing statements’
Any attempt to send out confusing statements on the anti-corruption helpline 1031 and statement on issuing new helpline numbers would be dealt with legally, it said.
Earlier in the day, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia joined Kejriwal in lashing out at the central government for trying to weaken the Delhi government’s fight against corruption.
“The Delhi government’s Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) was working with full vigour but as it started getting success a new chief was appointed illegally,” he said. Without naming Mukesh Meena, Sisodia said the “new ACB chief has made the agency dysfunctional”.
Revenge politics
Prime Minister Narendra Modi “is taking revenge on people of Delhi as they defeated them. The Gujarat model of anti-corruption or CBI won’t work here. Keep control of police but not for controlling ACB,” Sisodia said.
The Deputy Chief Minister said the ACB is part of Delhi government as per allocation of business rules but the central government wants to control the anti-graft agency.
“Modi-led Centre has probe agencies like CBI and ED. But it is not being able to use them in cases like ‘Lalitgate’ or Vyapam. And they talk of running the ACB,” he said.
Giving an example of the ACB’s paralysis, Sisodia said an SDM caught two DDA officials for allegedly taking bribe but the Branch refused to lodge an FIR against the official.
“The new ACB chief has made the agency dysfunctional ...where will the government go in such cases? We catch them and they release them,” the deputy chief minister said.
DH News Service