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Can Modi and Kejriwal governments function together?

Can Modi and Kejriwal governments function together?

February 19, 2015
How often did we find on national television channels the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders shooting down the Aam Aadmi Party’s promises as “utter lies” given the limitations of the Delhi government in implementing such promises?
Can Modi and Kejriwal governments function together
The BJP attacks on the AAP were based on the fact that Delhi was still not a full-fledged state and that any city government in Delhi therefore, had to depend on the Centre.
The BJP’s reason therefore was that only a BJP government could yield results in Delhi given that the Lotus also ruled the Centre. In retaliation, the AAP leaders repeatedly swore by the federal structure of governance and pledged they would build enough public pressure to compel the Centre to act and fulfil the demands.
Delhi issues bring to the fore the complexities involved in Centre-State relationship
Ostensibly the Delhi issue has yet again brought to light the complexities involved in Centre-State relationship.
This time it is more pronounced because of the populist measures of the AAP that lured the voters and resulted in the big win for the party in the assembly election earlier this month.
The AAP has made 70 promises in its manifesto. It indeed is a tall order in a state where almost all laws go to the Centre for approval! Just consider two such promises – to legalise squatter settlements and unauthorised colonies, and to improve law and order. Aren’t they hard to keep without the Centre’s support since Delhi neither has its own police nor does its government own any land here?
It is though not the first time that an Opposition party has taken the reins of Delhi in its hands. In fact the city state has seen two opposite governments at the Centre and the state on at least three occasions.
In 1993, when the BJP formed its first government in Delhi, the Centre was ruled by the Congress under Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao. The state government could last its term but internal fissures within the party itself saw three BJP CMs within the same term.
The BJP finally lost Delhi to the Congress in 1998 when the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government under Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was at the Centre. The incumbent Congress CM, Sheila Dikshit thereafter, managed not just to hold the fort and last her full term, but went on to win three successive state elections. Yet, her last two terms coincided with the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre – and this did prove beneficial for her as she could launch some big ticket projects in the city.
Her name though was dragged in corruption and the Aam Aadmi Party finally defeated her to annex Delhi from the Congress in December 2013 when the UPA was still at the helm in Centre. The government could last only 49 days and the state was placed under President’s rule throughout 2014. What was significant that in May, the UPA had lost the elections and the BJP-led NDA was again at the helm in Centre under a new PM, Narendra Modi.

Bitterness between Modi and Kejriwal

The relation between Modi and the AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal cannot be called friendly. Both had clashed with each other for the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat in the last general elections and Modi had emerged triumphant. Thereafter, Kejriwal launched a scathing attack on the BJP, accusing it of poaching its MLAs in Delhi where the state assembly was still placed under suspended animation. The BJP government did not even invite Kejriwal – the then former CM – to the Republic Day parade on 26 January.
In the run up to the Delhi election, Modi launched a vicious personal attack on Kejriwal, calling him an anarchist. The BJP resorted to personality-centric campaign targeting Kejriwal by lampooning him in cartoons.
Is this bitterness going to last once the AAP halted the BJP juggernaut in Delhi and scored a landslide majority by winning 67 of the 70 seats. The Lotus could content itself with the remaining three seats!
Obviously it has been on more than one occasion that Kejriwal has bruised Modi’s ego. So can we expect the sparring to continue? Already Modi has taken a jibe at Kejriwal over the AAP’s promise of reducing the power tariff in Delhi, saying he wondered how such promises could be made in states which were dependent on electricity from outside.
The signals seem ominous. While it has traditionally been difficult for the Centre and the state to be on the same page on each and every issue, the tense relationship between the PM and the Delhi CM does not augur well for the National Capital.
The earlier the issue is resolved, the better it will be for the people of Delhi.

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