LG names Kailash Gahlot to hoist flag on Aug 15, not CM’s pick Atishi

LG VK Saxena nominated Kailash Gahlot to unfurl the Tricolour on Independence Day, resolving standoff with AAP over jailed CM Kejriwal's preference for Atishi.

Lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena on Tuesday nominated state minister Kailash Gahlot to unfurl the Tricolour during the Capital’s Independence Day celebrations, not going with imprisoned chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s preferred pick Atishi but bringing closure to a week-long standoff between the elected Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the LG’s office.

Delhi LG VK Saxena. (PTI)

“LG has noted that the matter related to police have been assigned to home department under allocation of business rules. LG is pleased to nominate the minister (home) Kailash Gahlot to unfurl the national flag,” said the order issued by Ashish Kundra, secretary to the LG.

The AAP welcomed the move, saying it honoured the principles of democracy by choosing “an elected representative over an appointed one”, a reference to the centrally nominated LG, even as it refrained from commenting on Saxena’s rejection of the chief minister’s choice.

The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also lauded the move, arguing that Kejriwal, who has been in Tihar prison since March 21, was not authorised to nominate a person for the ceremony, which is held at Chhatrasal Stadium in northwest Delhi every year.

Controversy roiled the annual event when Kejriwal wrote to Saxena from prison and said Atishi, who is in charge of 12ministries, would take his place on August 15, setting off the latest firestorm between the elected AAP government and the LG’s office over the chief minister’s powers since his imprisonment.

The AAP has insisted that Kejriwal will continue as chief minister and run the government from behind bars, dismissing assertions by the BJP that the decision will hobble the Capital’s governance.

In nearly five months since he has been in jail, the city’s two power centres have clashed over the now long-delayed mayoral elections, filling vacant positions in Delhi’s hospitals, felling trees in the Ridge near Chhatarpur, desilting drains, among others.

The Tihar administration on August 9 censured Kejriwal for sending the letter allegedly in contravention of prison rules and said it was not forwarded to the LG’s office.

Still, the AAP on Monday pressed forward with its plan and general administration department (GAD) minister Gopal Rai, after a meeting with the chief minister in Tihar jail, asking the head of the agency to make arrangements for Atishi’s visit to Chhatrasal.

“I had a meeting with the chief minister today. He desires that minister Atishi should hoist the flag on 15th of August 2024, at the Chhatrasal stadium event, in his place. All the necessary arrangements (should) be made accordingly,” Rai said in the letter.

However, later that day, GAD additional chief secretary Navin Kumar Chaudhary said the chief minister’s direction was “legally invalid and cannot be acted upon.”

“National events like Independence day are events with supreme constitutional sanctity and any deviation from the laid down provisions for celebrating them will not only undermine the sanctity but may also amount to statutory illegality,” he said.

“Only private correspondence with a designated set of people is permissible. Therefore any communication, written or oral, in contravention of rules is not legally valid and therefore cannot be acted upon,” Chaudhary added.

At the same time, the BJP labelled the move “a publicity stunt” and a violation of constitutional protocol.

However, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who was released after 17 months in prison on August 9 accused the LG of “petty politics”.

“We keep reading in newspapers that when conman Sukesh writes a letter, Tihar officials submit it to LG and LG takes action. But when the elected CM of Delhi writes a letter, LG stops the Tihar officials from sending the letter to him. If the CM has written a letter in connection with Independence Day, the LG secretariat needs to make a call to the Tihar DG (director general) office and ask them to send it to him,” Sisodia said.

The LG’s decision on Tuesday put the matter to rest, for now.

The “current impasse” was “created because of peculiar circumstances of non availability of the chief minister”, Kundra said in the order.

“This secretariat had sent a reference to the ministry of home affairs,” which it said has the “remit to issue guidelines about the independence day celebration at both state and central level.”

Kundra added that the home ministry authorised Saxena to nominate “any minister” to lead the ceremony.

While nominating Gahlot instead of Atishi, Saxena argued that the Delhi Police is responsible for the ceremonial march past parade after the unfurling of the flag and noted that force also finalises the programme, in conjunction with the home department.

However, the order did not address the chief minister’s letter or preference for Atishi at all.

Still, the AAP welcomed the move.

“We welcome the decision to have Delhi’s home minister, Kailash Gahlot, unfurl the national flag on August 15. This move honours the principle of democracy by choosing an elected representative over an appointed one, reinforcing the importance of the people’s mandate in our governance,” Delhi’s ruling party said in a statement.

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said the LG is the authority to decide.

“We have been constantly saying that as the CM Arvind Kejriwal is in jail he is not authorised to decide as to who will hoist the national flag in his absence. As per the constitutional provision when the state does not have a chief minister, the LG is supposed to hoist the national flag. obviously LG is the authority to decide and he has rightfully decided to nominate one of the Gahlot to hoist the national flag.”

To be sure, chief minister Kejriwal has not resigned from his post and neither is he legally required to.