The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) administration and bureaucrats are currently at odds, as Bharadwaj’s accusation comes to light. On Friday, Saurabh Bharadwaj, the minister of services for Delhi, said that Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar had threatened to kill him. He further added that he had informed Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena about the situation. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) administration and bureaucrats have been at odds for some time, and Bharadwaj’s accusation comes at this time. Bharadwaj informed reporters that the lieutenant governor (LG) had given him an assurance of action after their meeting with Saxena at the Raj Niwas.

“On May 16, the meeting of the Civil Services Board was scheduled and we were waiting for the chief secretary till 9:30 pm since he was busy. We sent him WhatsApp messages and he said he will come,” the minister said.  Bharadwaj alleged that “at 9.30 pm when he came to my office, he threatened to kill me”. “We have informed LG sir about the matter in clear words. He has said he will take strict action. We want that strict action should be taken against Naresh Kumar,” he stated.

According to authorities, the AAP administration has asked the Centre for permission to name P K Gupta, an IAS officer from the 1989 batch, as the new chief secretary of Delhi.    At the moment, Gupta holds the position of additional chief secretary in the Delhi government’s general administration division. They had stated that Chief Secretary Kumar would retire later this year.

The AAP administration had a tense relationship with Kumar, an IAS official from the 1988 batch who belonged to the AGMUT cadre.  By avoiding the elected Delhi government, he was charged by the AAP with receiving orders directly from the LG.  The allegations made against Kumar by the AAP leaders included an alleged plot to thwart the government’s well-known power subsidy programme.