• Source:JND
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The Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Vinai Kumar Saxena, on Thursday said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was resorting to "diversionary tactics" and "false accusations" against him. Taking to Twitter, the LG said that he would not be surprised if such "baseless, personal attacks" keep coming against him and his family in the coming days.

In the statement shared on Twitter, Saxena wrote, "I called for good governance, zero tolerance for corruption, and better services for the people of Delhi." The Delhi LG also wrote that Kejriwal should know that under no circumstances will the governor be deterred from fulfilling his official duties. "My commitment to improving the lives of the people of Delhi remains unwavered."

The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has accused Saxena of pressuring two of his subordinates to exchange demonetised currency notes worth Rs 1,400 crore during his tenure as chairman of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) in 2016. The LG dismissed the claims and called them a "figment of their (AAP leaders') imagination."

On Wednesday, LG House officials announced that he would take legal action against some AAP leaders, including Atishi, Jasmine Shah, Durgesh Pathak, and Saurabh Bhardwaj, for making "highly defamatory" and false corruption accusations against him.

Meanwhile, the AAP and the opposition BJP remain at odds over a number of issues in the national capital. MLAs from both parties staged an overnight protest on the assembly grounds on Monday in response to corruption allegations levelled against each other. On Tuesday, BJP MLAs renewed their call for the resignation of AAP ministers. On Wednesday, they marched out of the House for the third time as multiple adjournments and sloganeering by both camps stalled the proceedings.

The Kejriwal-led party has claimed that the BJP attempted to buy the MLAs through "Operation Lotus." In response, seven BJP MLAs wrote to the LG, requesting an investigation into the matter. The MLAs have requested that Kejriwal make public the names of those from the BJP who approached the AAP.

AAP MLAs staged a dharna outside the CBI headquarters in the national capital on Wednesday, demanding that the federal agency filed a complaint against the BJP's "Operation Lotus." Later that night, the PTI news agency reported that the CBI had "accepted" a complaint.