Our governments must work together, Kejriwal tells Modi
New Delhi, June 21: In a dramatic reversal from his earlier confrontational attitude, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and extended a hand of cooperation, saying both the city and central governments must work together for the capital's development.
"Assured full cooperation of Delhi government to develop Delhi, (the) capital city of India. It is important that Delhi government and Centre work together," Kejriwal tweeted after the meeting.
Kejriwal, in his call-on meeting with Modi at Parliament House, also congratulated the Prime Minister for his victory in the Lok Sabha election.
He appealed for the Centre's cooperation for the implementation of rainwater storage project, which has been recommended by several expert groups, including a study by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi.
He said the Delhi government has planned for the natural storage of water in the Yamuna river floodplains during the rainy season to end Delhi's water shortage.
"One season's water (is) sufficient to meet Delhi's water needs. Requested Centre's support," he said in a post.
Kejriwal also informed Modi that Delhi faces an acute water shortage, particularly in summer months and the project, once implemented, will ensure that storage of water during a single monsoon, will be sufficient to meet Delhi's water requirements for two years.
The Chief Minister also invited the Prime Minister to visit a 'Mohalla Clinic' and a Delhi government school.
The city's Mohalla Clinics and Delhi's transformed government schools are the Kejriwal government's pet schemes that have won wide acclaim.
Kejriwal said 'Ayushman Bharat' - the Modi government's health scheme - was briefly discussed as well.
He said he told Modi that Delhi's health scheme "is much bigger and wider in scope. However, assured him to examine if Ayushman Bharat scheme could also be integrated into our scheme".
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and the Modi government have been at loggerheads over a string of issues since Kejriwal became Chief Minister in February, 2015.
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PM's silence on Kharge's insult by Himanta is his consent: Rahul
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said the use of "derogatory language" against party chief Mallikarjun Kharge by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is an insult to the entire SC/ST community, and the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the matter "is not his helplessness, but his consent".
"If the prime minister sees an attack on the dignity of crores of Dalits in the country and does not speak up - he is not only shirking his responsibility, but is also a party to that insult," Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X.
Gandhi said the use of "vulgar and derogatory language" by Sarma against Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Kharge "is entirely condemnable, shameful, and unacceptable".
"Kharge ji is a senior and popular Dalit leader of the country - his experience, stature, and prestige are unparalleled. Insulting him is not an insult to one individual alone, but also to crores of people from the SC-ST community in this country," he posted.
This, he said, just reflected the "old and premeditated mindset" of the BJP-RSS and was nothing new, the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha said.
"Whether it is the insult to Babasaheb Ambedkar, belittling Dalit leaders, or personal attacks on representatives of the SC-ST community - the history of BJP and RSS bears witness that whenever a Dalit leader speaks the truth, they stoop to humiliate him," he posted.
"This is their ideology, this is their true character and face," he added.
Posing a direct question to the PM, he asked, "do you support Himanta Sarma's use of this language? Your silence is not helplessness, it is consent."
Sarma earlier hit out at Kharge, claiming that he was "speaking like a madman" due to old age, after the latter put the onus on central agencies to probe the charges made against the Assam chief minister.
Slamming the Congress chief, Sarma said, "Kharge is ageing and is speaking like a pagal (madman)."
