Barkha Singh slams AAP, brands Kejriwal, ministers as 'dictators'

Slamming the AAP government for taking steps towards her removal, DCW Chairperson Barkha Singh on Thursday branded Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his ministers as "dictators" and accused them of acting on their whims.

Singh met Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung and put forth her views on Delhi government seeking to remove her from the post of chairperson of Delhi Commission for Women.

"I am holding a constitutional post and the Delhi government cannot remove me. I have handed over a rule book of DCW to the LG so that he gets to know that the government cannot remove the chairperson from the post," Singh told reporters after meeting LG.

She said Jung had assured her that he would look into the matter and go through the rule book.

"They (Kejriwal, his Ministers) have become dictators. They are acting according to their whims and fancies," she said.

The chairperson also threatened to take legal recourse if she is removed by the AAP government.

"I am not going to step down as the chairperson of DCW because I still have one year and four months left in my tenure. However, if they remove me, violating rules, I will take help of the law," she said.

On being asked about AAP government's claim that she was politician, so she cannot continue as DCW chief, Bharti said as per DCW act, there is nothing written in it that a political leader cannot hold the post.

The Delhi government has suggested the name of Hindi novelist Maitreyi Pushpa as the DCW chief to replace Barkha Singh.

69-year-old Pushpa is a Hindi fiction writer and has 10 novels and seven short story collections to her credit.

"Chairperson of DCW apart, I am also a well-know poet and writer. If they (AAP government) don't know about me..they should ask their leader Kumar Vishwas, who is also a poet, about me, who I am," Singh said.

The DCW chairperson had summoned Bharti over allegations that he had led a group of supporters against some African women after claiming they were involved in a drug and prostitution racket. The AAP had alleged "politicisation" of the Commission by its chairperson.

"I also raised the issue of Somnath Bharti before the LG and demanded that he ensures that law takes its course," she said.