MHA hits back after AAP alleges that Centre stalled Delhi Budget on presentation eve

New Delhi, March 21: Centre and the Kejriwal government in Delhi have been at odds on a number of issues. In the latest feud, the Aam Aadmi Party claimed on Monday that the Ministry of Home Affairs stalled the government's Budget 2023-24, which was scheduled to be presented tomorrow in the Delhi Assembly.

However, sources in the Home Ministry denied the allegations, saying that the MHA had instead sought clarification from the Delhi government because its budget allocation was focused on advertising rather than infrastructure. In response to the MHA's point, the Delhi government stated that the budget allocation for advertising has not been increased this year.

"MHA is lying. The total budget of Delhi is Rs 78,800 crores. Out of this, Rs 22,000 crores are for infrastructure, while only Rs 550 crores will be spent on advertisement. Last year also the budget for advertisement was the same. There is no increase in the advertising budget," Delhi's Finance Minister Kailash Gahlot stated on Monday.

VK Saxena approved the Annual Financial Statement 2023-2024 with certain observations on March 9, according to the Delhi LG office, and sent the file to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

"Delhi Government thereafter sought the approval of the President Droupadi Murmu by sending a letter to the Home Ministry. The Home Ministry conveyed its observations to the Delhi Government on March 17. The Budget was to be presented on March 21," the office added.

The office also stated that it is still awaiting the file from the Delhi Chief Minister.

In a statement, Delhi Finance Minister Kailash Gahlot claimed that the MHA "stopped" the Delhi government from presenting its annual budget for 2023-24 on the scheduled date of March 21, 2023.

"The budget was sent for MHA approval well in advance on March 10, 2023," according to the statement.

"It is now learned that the MHA expressed some concerns on Delhi government's budget and refused to give it approval through a letter sent to the Chief Secretary on March 17, 2023. For mysterious reasons, the Chief Secretary of Delhi kept the letter hidden for 3 days. I learned about the letter only at 2 pm today i.e. 20 March 2023. The file with MHA's letter was put up to me officially only at 6 pm today i.e. just the day before the budget was to be presented in Delhi Assembly," Gahlot alleged.