Chadha, Atishi nominations won't be accepted, hints Puri
Delhi transport minister Kailash Gahlot has nominated four representatives, including Chadha and Atishi, to the DMRC board of directors.
NEW DELHI: Indicating that the Centre will not accept the nomination of AAP leaders Raghav Chadha and Atishi to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation board, Union housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Tuesday there is no scope for non-official people in the board. He said that in 2003, then BJP MP Madan Lal Khurana had resigned as DMRC chairman after then chief minister Sheila Dikshit objected to his appointment.
“I have a situation where the DMRC board is handled with great competence by the serving secretary in the ministry. There is no scope for non-official people in that board,” said Mr Puri.
Taking a dig at Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party, Mr Puri said: “We have now different situation where chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is not suggesting the name of an MP and he is suggesting names of two people who lost elections for MP.”
Delhi transport minister Kailash Gahlot has nominated four representatives, including Mr Chadha and Ms Atishi, to the DMRC board of directors. Delhi Dialogue and Development Commission (DDC) vice chairman Jasmine Shah and AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP N.D. Gupta’s son Naveen Gupta are the two other persons nominated by Mr Gahlot.
Mr Chadha and Ms Atishi had unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha polls from South and East Delhi seats respectively earlier this year. Responding to the minister’s comment, Mr Chadha tweeted: “By the extension of that logic since the hon’ble minister Hardeep S. Puri achieved the unachievable feat of losing the Lok Sabha elections from Amritsar on a BJP ticket despite Modi Tsunami and BJP winning 300+seats, he must put in his papers immediately.”