Arvind Kejriwal accuses Delhi LG of snooping on him, ministers

New Delhi: In a fresh confrontation, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday accused Lt Governor Najeeb Jung of snooping on him and his cabinet ministers and sending his government's "secret information" to the Prime Minister's Office, a charge rejected by the LG's secretariat.

Kejriwal's attack on Jung came after a letter written by the LG to the Prime Minister's Principal Secretary Nripendra Mishra in February on working of a bureaucrat in the office of Delhi's Home Minister found its way to media.

In the letter, Jung had said that an officer, S K Nagarwal, belonging to Indian Railway Service of Engineers (IRSE), was found working with Delhi's Home Minister while on study leave from the Railways.

The LG, in the letter dated February 26 to Mishra, sought departmental action against Nagarwal saying he was found working with Delhi government on December 29 last year.

Rejecting LG's report, a Delhi government spokesperson said Nagarwal never worked with city administration as he was not released by the Railways.

"Shocking! LG snooping on CM and Ministers. Who visits CM and ministers- LG secretly collecting this info and informing PMO," the Delhi Chief Minister tweeted.

A senior official in the Lt Governor's secretariat termed Kejriwal's allegation as "baseless", saying that it had received a written complaint stating that Nagarwal was working in the Delhi government when he was on study-leave from Railways.

"Services matter is the domain of the LG. On written complaint, Lt Governor had written to principal secretary to Prime Minister and brought the breech of service rules to his notice," the official said.

The Delhi government is also furious over a directive by the Union Home Ministry which had asked it to furnish details of all officers on deputation to Delhi administration. The MHA, in its letter dated May 24, even asked the city government to provide details of all consultants appointed by the AAP dispensation.

In reply to the Home Ministry directive, Kejriwal today wrote a letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh refusing to provide the details as sought by his ministry.

Instead, Kejriwal asked Singh for information relating to appointment of consultants by the NDA government in the last two years.