Full speech of Shri Arun Jaitley delivered at FICCI

New Delhi, 19 January 2012

The BJP said that the Gujarat High Court order in Lokayukta appointment case was a “setback to federalism”. Speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of a function here, BJP leader in the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley said, that since the governor was a nominee of the Union Government, giving him precedence over the state government was a setback to federalism.

“The governor is a nominee of the central government. If a governor gets primacy over the state government on the appointment of Lokayukta, it amounts to government of India appointing the Lokayukta,” he said.

Speaking at the annual general meeting of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) earlier, the BJP leader attacked the central government, saying that non-Congress ruled states were facing delays in getting legislations enacted as some bills were pending with the governors appointed by the central government.

Jaitley said the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government had ensured that chief ministers of Congress-ruled states were consulted before appointment of governors.

“When the NDA government was in power, we made sure that the home ministry consulted chief ministers before appointing governors, specially in Congress-ruled states. But today, every non-UPA state has half-a-dozen legislations pending with the governor,” Jaitley said.