NEW DELHI: Nine advisers to the Arvind Kejriwal government were sacked on Tuesday following a directive of the Union home ministry. This sparked a fresh round of confrontation between the AAP government and the Centre The development has robbed the Kejriwal government of all its advisers except two of CM Kejriwal. Deputy CM Manish Sisodia tore into PM Narendra Modi, alleging that it was an attempt by the BJP-led Centre to undermine the reforms undertaken by the AAP government to improve the standard of education in Delhi government schools.Four of the nine had already quit due to different reasons and only five were still occupying the posts. AAP had appointed them as domain experts after coming to power in 2015. The most prominent among the nine is Atishi Marlena, an Oxford University alumna who is credited with leading the educational reforms of the government for a salary of Re 1 per month, and Raghav Chadha, who was appointed adviser to Sisodia for around three months for a salary of Re 1. Chadha had quit in March 2016.The MHA said these posts were “not on the list of posts approved for the ministers and chief minister of Delhi”. “No prior required approval of the central government has been taken for the creation of these posts,” said the order from the general administration department.The order has clarified that since in Delhi services is a subject reserved for the central government, the posts created by the Delhi cabinet are invalid. There is, however, no possibility of recovering the salaries given to these advisers.A services department release said that all consequential action under law on these “illegal” appointments could also be taken.Sources in the government said that the posts already existed in the previous government and some appointments were made with prior approval from the LG’s office. For other appointments, the AAP government had sent the files for ex-facto approval to LG.Justifying the appointments, Sisodia said, “The BJP-ruled MP government appoints babas, but we appoint an Oxford graduate for Re 1 per month and they (BJP) do not allow them to work. The appointments were made against pre-existing co-terminus posts.”The government called it a “conspiracy to remove Marlena”. Without her, the pace of reforms in education would slow down, the government fears. “The minister has the right to appoint co-terminus aides. Nine people were sacked to show that one person is not being targeted,” said an AAP government source.“Their main target is Marlena and the Centre thinks it can stop the ongoing reforms in education. Why is the Modi government scared of her work? The improvement in the fields of education has made Modi uncomfortable,” said Sisodia.AAP spokesperson Chadha, however, alleged that the decision to sack the advisers was taken after the Centre’s attempts to stop the reforms of the AAP government by pitting the bureaucrats against the elected government failed. “It is also an impressive diversionary tactic by the home ministry at the behest of BJP to divert attention from the spate of rapes, cash crunch etc,” Chadha added.

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