Centre punished Delhi govt by 'handing power to the Lieutenant Governor' for supporting farmers' protest, says Kejriwal

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said that the Centre "punished" the Delhi government by "handing power to the Lieutenant Governor" for supporting farmers who are protesting against the three new farm laws.

"They (BJP) have introduced a bill in Parliament to punish Kejriwal. We faced repercussions for supporting farmer's protest. They are punishing us by passing the bill and handing power into Delhi Lieutenant Governor's hands instead of the elected government," Kejriwal said while addressing a Kisan Mahapanchayat in Haryana's Jind district.

Did we fight freedom struggle for this?, Kejriwal asked the crowd.

The chief minister further added, "We salute the sacrifices of 300 people who died during the agitation (farmer's protest). It is our responsibility that their sacrifice does not go in vain."

Hitting out at BJP, Kejriwal stated that "BJP-led central government conspired to put farmers coming to Delhi into 9 stadiums to be converted into jails. But we were fortunate as the law stated that the power to convert the stadium into jail rests with Delhi's chief minister."

"Centre sent me a file and started pressurizing me by saying there will be a law and order issue. They even threatened me saying they will take away my power. I didn't listen to them and rejected the file, he added.

However, later he said that "what one needed to serve the people was not "power" but the "right intention".

Last month on March 24, the Parliament passed a bill which entails that the term "government" referred to in any law made by the Delhi legislative assembly will imply Lieutenant Governor.

( With inputs from ANI )