Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on Tuesday nominated state Home Minister Kailash Gahlot to hoist the national flag during the Independence Day event at Chhatrasal Stadium, rejecting Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s recommendation, reported PTI.
In a note to Gahlot’s secretary (home), Principal Secretary to the lieutenant governor, Ashish Kundra, said that the ministry had authorised Saxena to nominate any minister from the Delhi government to hoist the flag, reported The Indian Express.
Earlier in the day, Delhi’s general administration department said that Kejriwal’s request to allow Cabinet minister Atishi to hoist the flag during the event was not “legally valid”, ANI reported.
The additional chief secretary of the general administration said: “It is absolutely clear that the above communication does not qualify in the permissible communication which can be sent outside prison [by Kejriwal]…Any communication, written or oral, in contravention of the rules quoted above, is not legally valid and therefore cannot be acted upon.”
Delhi minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Gopal Rai on Monday had instructed the department to make arrangements for Atishi to hoist the tricolour instead of Kejriwal, who is currently in Tihar jail.
Rai said that the directive was issued on Kejriwal’s behest after he met with the chief minister in prison.
Kejriwal had also conveyed the request to the lieutenant governor last week, reported The Hindu.
The department said it had “sought convenience of the Delhi chief minister for his availability for the Independence Day function”, but since he is in judicial custody, the issue has been brought to the notice of the higher authorities and that a decision is awaited.
“The flag should be hoisted by the CM or minister of an elected government,” Manish Sisodia, Aam Aadmi Party leader and former deputy chief minister, told PTI on Tuesday. “I don’t think there is any problem in this. However, it would be wrong to expect about democracy, Constitution from the LG [Lieutenant Governor]. We can only expect dictatorship from them and that they are doing.”