Najeeb Jung wants to write a book on his stint as LG of Delhi

The outgoing Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Najeeb Jung, who resigned yesterday 20 months before his term was to end, on Friday called on the Prime Minister and pressed him to accept his resignation.

After the meeting he told the waiting media that he had twice offered to resign earlier but on each occasion the PM had asked him to continue. When he communicated his decision to resign again on Tuesday this week, the LG disclosed, the PM once again asked him to continue but this time he insisted on hanging up his boots.

“Politics has nothing to do with it,” he insisted and said that he wanted to spend more time with his 95-year-old mother and his grand children who are abroad. Asked about his turbulent relationship with the AAP Government, the outgoing LG merely said that he wanted to write a book on his stint.

Earlier in the morning he had invited Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to have breakfast at Raj Niwas.

While speculation in the media held that former bureaucrats Anil Baijal and KJ Alphonse were front runners as Jung’s successor, names of Puducherry LG Kiran Bedi was also doing the rounds.

Jung (66), himself a former IAS officer and Vice Chancellor of Jamia Milia Islamia, was appointed LG in July, 2013 by the UPA.

The AAP Government had challenged the authority of the Lt Governor in turning down decisions taken by the Delhi assembly and the Delhi Government on the ground that such decisions were all subject to the Lt Governor’s approval as Delhi did not enjoy ‘full statehood’.

While the Delhi High Court had ruled that administrative power in Delhi rested with the LG, the appeal is still pending before the Supreme Court, which observed during a hearing earlier this month that a duly elected government needed some power to function.

Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been pushing for full statehood for Delhi and has been seeking control over Delhi Police. He had also accused the Lt Governor of sitting over files, turning down appointments made by the state government and acting as a stooge of the central government.