'Conspiracy' to stop power subsidy scheme, still Kejriwal accused of 'fighting': Delhi CM Kejriwal
New Delhi (PTI): Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday asserted that his government would not let the "conspiracy" to stop the power subsidy scheme in the national capital succeed and said he would defend like a rock the rights of the people of Delhi.
A day after Power Minister Atishi alleged in the Delhi Assembly that officials were trying to stop the power subsidy scheme at the behest of Lt Governor VK Saxena, Kejriwal warned him not to complain later about "dignities" being breached.
Earlier this week, Saxena -- in an apparent reference to his relationship with the AAP dispensation that has been aggressively attacking him over a range of issues -- had said that the "dignity of speech" was breached in recent times.
While alleging that there is conspiracy to stop the power subsidy scheme introduced by his government in Delhi, Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi, "Still they say Kejriwal fights a lot."
"Conspiracies are being hatched to stop (the) free electricity (scheme) in Delhi. But we will not allow their conspiracy to succeed. Kejriwal will be found standing like a rock for the rights of the people of Delhi. LG saheb, please do not say later that dignities are being breached," Kejriwal said.
Amid allegations of officials obstructing the Delhi government's electricity subsidy scheme at the behest of Saxena, Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel on Friday referred the matter to the Standing Committee on Public Facilities.
Speaking in the House on the issue, Atishi said, "It seems that the chief secretary and officials are conspiring... to stop the power subsidy at the behest of L-G Saxena. A file in this regard was sent to the chief secretary with directions that it should be sent to the Cabinet within 15 days.
"Today, it is March 24 and the file is yet to come to me. Instead of sending the file to the chief minister, the file was sent to the chief secretary."
AAP MLAs also supported the issue, prompting Goel to send the matter to the standing committee.
Earlier this month, Saxena had asked Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to direct the Power department to place the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) advisory on restriction of power subsidy before the council of ministers and take a decision within 15 days.
The instruction was made on the basis of DERC's statutory advisory to the Delhi government to consider "restricting" the subsidy to the "poor and needy consumers".
Consumers with power consumption of less than 200 units do not have to pay any charge. Those with consumption of 201-400 units get a 50-per cent subsidy, capped at Rs 850.
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IOA Impasse: Usha, EC members clash on CEO appointment; deadlock persists
New Delhi (PTI): Indian Olympic Association President PT Usha had another heated confrontation with the body's Executive Council on Thursday after a majority of its members reiterated their opposition to Raghuram Iyer's appointment as CEO but the embattled track-and-field great refused to back down and rejected their demand for his removal.
The main agenda of the meeting called by Usha was ratification of Iyer's appointment as CEO on January 5 but it ended in a deadlock. With both sides sticking to their earlier stands, the bitter feud is expected to worsen in the coming days.
"They want to re-initiate the whole process, they want to re-advertise afresh. It's like saying we don't want this person and let us start the process from the scratch," a furious Usha said after the meeting.
"This process (of appointment of CEO) took two years and now they want to start all over again. This is going to have repercussions (from the IOC). It can jeopardise India's chances of bidding for and hosting the 2036 Olympics," she warned.
"I am not going to accept this. I have told this to the IOC (International Olympic Committee). I am not a quitter, I am not going anywhere without cleaning the IOA," she asserted.
Interestingly, IOC Director Jerome Poivy joined the meeting online and watched the confrontation unfold.
Undeterred by Usha's warnings, 10 members of the EC, who attended the meeting in person, issued a statement, saying that they have decided to re-initiate the process of appointment of the CEO.
"The ratification of Mr lyer as the CEO was not approved. Further it was decided that process of the appointment of the CEO be re-initiated with new terms of reference," the statement said.
They stated that IOC representative called the entire fiasco "an internal matter of the IOA" and had "no specific views or interference" on the subject.
Before joining the IOA, Iyer had worked as EO of IPL sides Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Super Giants. He had also held administrative roles in football's Indian Super League and Ultimate Table Tennis.
"The Members further, in the presence of the IOC Director, stated that the process for the advertisement of the CEO should be initiated at the earliest where it was anticipated that the appointment can be concluded in the next two months," the statement from the revolting EC members read..
Senior vice president Ajay H Patel, vice presidents RajLaxmi Deo and Gagan Narang, Treasurer Sahdev Yadav, Joint Secretary Alaknanda Ashok, other Executive Council members Amitabh Sharma, Bhupender Singh Bajwa, Rohit Rajpal, Dola Banerjee, and Yogeshwar Dutt were present in person.
Joint Secretary Kalyan Chaubey and Executive Council member Harpal Singh joined online.
The members felt that while a "CEO is a must and should be appointed", but voted against the nomination of lyer for the position.
"...the agenda was to put to vote where the 10 physical members and 2 members who joined online expressed their dissent on the agenda and the vote was 12 against the ratification of the CEO."
"...the acting CEO Kalyan Chaubey, who is the Joint Secretary of the IOA, shall continue to discharge the duties as per the provisions laid out in the Constitution," the statement of the majority EC members said.
Usha, on her part, said that the EC members have gone back on their word as they had agreed to the appointment of the CEO in the January meeting.
"The EC meeting held in January was video-recorded. I asked each one of them whether they agree to the appointment of Iyer as the CEO or not. All of them said Iyer is good and everything about him is all right. Only his salary will have to be negotiated," she stated.
"I asked them what is the lower rate (limit) and what is the higher limit of his salary. That (salary) they did not mention.
"Then his (Iyer's) appointment was done and I communicated it to IOC and OCA and everybody accepted it."
The bone of contention is the Rs 20 lakh per month salary for Iyer, along with other perks.
Usha said she offered to renegotiate Iyer's salary in Thursday's meeting but the 12 EC members were adamant about starting the process afresh.
She said the latest development could jeopardise India's chances of bidding for the 2036 Olympics.
"Only after the appointment (of the CEO) was done, the Future Host Commission agreed to have a dialogue with us, otherwise they would not agree to it. The CEO will have to lead the negotiations, we have to show professionalism, otherwise how would we got to present our bid?" she asked.
She said the IOC could have taken a drastic step even before the Paris Olympics but desisted from that.
"I was there, that is why IOC was waiting for two years. It (IOC action) could have happened before Paris Olympics but they waited.
"Iyer was in the Co-ordination Committee and not the IOA president, that was why we could compete under Indian flag and not under the IOC flag."
She said Iyer and her personal assistant Ajay Narang, whose appointment was "cancelled" by the majority EC members, have not got salary since their appointment.
