Delhi stands isolated due to AAP’s adversarial politics, says L-G

Lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena on Saturday squarely pinned the blame for the ongoing water shortage in the Capital on the AAP government, saying that Delhi is “witnessing a travesty of governance” with political leaders turning a crisis into an opportunity to gain political mileage.

Lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena on Saturday squarely pinned the blame for the ongoing water shortage in the Capital on the AAP government, saying that Delhi is “witnessing a travesty of governance” with political leaders turning a crisis into an opportunity to gain political mileage.

“It is saddening to see the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government hurling accusations and abuses as a matter of routine instead of choosing the path of dialogue. In times of adversity, goodwill matters — be it in interpersonal or institutional relations. This is the reason that Delhi finds itself isolated and snubbed, even in times of dire need,” Mr. Saxena said in a statement.

Rebutting the L-G’s allegations, Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said that as a constitutional functionary, blaming the ruling party of Delhi while “turning a blind eye” to the hard facts of failing water supply to the State by the BJP-ruled Haryana government shows that Mr. Saxena is not functioning as the L-G of Delhi, but “as the L-G of the BJP”.

“We agree with Mr. Saxena that governance should be conducted in a harmonious environment, with a spirit of conciliation and accommodation. But we are unable to understand why he does not hold the BJP-ruled Haryana government to the same yardstick, despite being fully aware that it has been blocking over 100 MGD (million gallons per day) of Delhi’s rightful share of water for the past many days,” Mr. Bharadwaj said.

The L-G said that while dialogue, discussion and delivery are “time-tested principles” which have been the touchstone in reconciling the most difficult competing interests, these principles have been abandoned in the case of Delhi over the last 10 years.

“Instead of trying to solve the issue at hand in an amicable and cooperative manner, the AAP government resorted to a devious political game by blaming Haryana of not releasing water in full media glare on May 22, just two days before the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi. The aim was obviously to prejudice the voter,” he said.

He added that even after remaining in power for a decade, the government has failed to add a single litre to the water treatment capacity or invest resources in the repair and leakage of old pipes, which it inherited from the previous Congress government.