Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress had appointed legislators as parliamentary secretaries during their terms in power, so they should not question the Aam Aadmi Party government for doing the same, reported the Hindustan Times.

“In 1997, the BJP CM in Delhi also appointed a parliamentary secretary. The Congress also did so during Sheila [Dikshit] ji’s time. Then it was right?” Kejriwal said, adding, “When the BJP used to have parliamentary secretaries then it’s legal but when we do it, it’s illegal… I want to request Modiji, do whatever you want to me but don’t let the people of Delhi suffer.”

To prove his point, he also made public an order dated May 7, 1997, which shows that the then BJP government under Sahib Singh had appointed Nand Kishore Garg as a parliamentary secretary.

On the same day, AAP said President Pranab Mukherjee's decision to reject the Delhi government’s proposal to amend the dual office of profit law was purely political. The AAP government had passed a Bill that sought to exempt the post of parliamentary secretary from the law. As a result, 21 MLAs of the Aam Aadmi Party face disqualification as they were appointed parliamentary secretaries in 2015. The ruling party said the refusal to pass the Bill was not based on technical grounds but "on the Centre’s recommendation”.

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