Najeeb Jung Quits As Delhi Lieutenant Governor
NEW DELHI : In a surprise development, Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Najeeb Jung submitted his resignation to the Union government on Thursday.
Mr. Jung thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi ‘for all the help and cooperation he received during his tenure as the Lt. Governor of Delhi’.
He also thanked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal ‘for his association in the last two years’, and the people of Delhi for ‘all their support and affection’, especially during the one year President’s Rule, when he got ‘unstinted support’ from them, which in turn helped in running the administration smoothly and effortlessly, a release from the Lt Governor’s office said.
Mr. Jung, who took over from Tejendra Khanna in July 2013, said he would return back to his first love, academics. Mr Jung’s three years in office were dogged by his constant power tussle with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.
“Sh Jung’s resignation is a surprise to me, my best wishes in all his future endeavours. (sic)” Mr Kejriwal tweeted. Mr Jung’s adviser Ajai Chaudhari said he was shocked too. “He resigned since he had personal reasons. He said he has worked for 45 years, now he wants to spend time with family and his grandchildren,” Mr Chaudhari told Reporters.
Sources close to Mr Jung claimed it was not a sudden decision and he had been thinking of quitting for some months. An undated letter of Mr Jung, however, has surfaced in which he has written to Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi that he would be on a private visit to Goa from December 25 to January 1.
The letter, news agency pti reported, also said the Delhi Chief Secretary will keep in touch with Mr Jung “about important developments” and when needed, seek Mr Mehrishi’s advice
“Despite our bitter-sweet experience, we wish him well,” Mr Kejriwal’s deputy Manish Sisodia told newsman.While , AAP leader Kumar Vishwas commented that Mr Jung probably “was controlled elsewhere” and that he had no choice in the way he navigated a hostile relationship with the elected government in Delhi.
Mr Jung is a former bureaucrat and Vice Chancellor of the Jamia Millia Islamia University. AAP alleges that as the centre’s representative in Delhi, Mr Jung used his veto to strike down several Delhi government decisions in recent months.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had observed that “an elected government should have some power to run, otherwise the government cannot function.”
The centre and Mr Jung said because Delhi is not a state, the Lieutenant Governor has special powers, an argument accepted by the Delhi High Court which, in August, ruled against Mr Kejriwal. The court said that Mr Jung is the administrative head of the capital and has to sign off on government decisions.
Mr Kejriwal challenged that verdict in the Supreme Court, which will hear his appeal in January.
