New Delhi, July 21 (UNI) Delhi lieutenant governor (L-G) VK Saxena on Thursday rejected Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's proposal to visit Singapore to attend World Cities Summit there.
The L-G advised Kejriwal to not attend the summit in Singapore since it's a conference of mayors and won't be befitting for a chief minister to attend it, officials privy to the development said.
“Having carefully studied the nature of the forum and the profile of other attendees, as also the subjects being deliberated upon at the conference, the LG has pointed out that the conference will be covering different aspects of urban governance which in the case of Delhi are addressed by diverse civic bodies ranging from New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and Delhi Development Authority (DDA) apart from the Delhi government," a senior official said.
"The LG has underlined the fact that the Delhi government does not have exclusive domain over the issues corresponding with the theme of the conference and hence it will be inappropriate for a chief minister to be attending the same,” a senior official from the LG’s office said requesting anonymity," he added.
However, the Delhi CM has started that he would "go ahead" with the visit despite not receiving greenlight from the L-G office.
"I humbly beg to differ with the advice of the Hon'ble Lieutenant Governor," Kejriwal wrote in response.
The Delhi CM said that the L-G parameter to reject his Singapore's visit would even make PM Natendra Modi unfit go abroad.
"If the visit of each constitutional authority in our country were to be decided on the basis of what subjects fall within the jurisdiction of that authority, it would create a funny situation and practical logjam. Then the Prime Minister would not be able to go anywhere because in most of his visits, he also discusses subjects which which fall in state list and do not fall in his jurisdiction," he stated in the letter.
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