Centre wants to run parallel government in Delhi: Manish Sisodia

New Delhi:  Lashing out at the central government over the recent transfer of eight DANICS officers from Delhi, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Tuesday said that the Centre wanted to run a "parallel government" in the national capital. "The central government wants to bypass the elected government of Delhi and run the parallel government through undemocratic means. Modiji claims that he believes in federalism. But is this how you run a federal government by weakening the state government and raiding the chief minister's office," Sisodia asked. He alleged that the Centre wanted to "weaken" the Delhi government by transferring DANICS (Delhi, Andaman Nicobar Island Civil Services) officers to other places. He said: "It is the central government's responsibility to provide officers to Delhi government. But it has failed to do so because it wants to weaken the Delhi government by taking away our officers." "According to the Gazette of India notifications, Delhi should have at least 309 officers. However, after the latest transfer, we are only left with just 157 officers now, whereas in Andaman Nicobar islands there are only 24 posts of officers as against 31 posted there," Sisodia added. He further alleged these transfers and postings were a "conspiracy" by the central government and that it was targeting only those officers who were doing good work in Delhi. "The central government wants to threaten the officers who are doing good work for the Delhi government. They want to give a message to the officers that if you do good work for Delhi you will be transferred to Andaman or Lakshadweep or sent to jail," he said. Sisodia mentioned former Delhi VAT commissioner Vijay Kumar, who was doing "good work" but was transferred to Lakshadweep even after repeated requests by the Delhi government to retain him. "Vijay Kumar was doing very good work. All of a sudden he was transferred to Lakshadweep just before Diwali when VAT collection in Delhi is highest. We requested the home ministry to reconsider the decision but they denied, saying Lakshadweep needed his service", he said. He further said the officer was transferred back to Delhi after six months as principal secretary at Lt. Governor's office. "What changed in just six months that he was called back to Delhi that too without consulting the state government," Sisodia asked.