Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, on Wednesday, shot off a letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of fuelling “negative politics” in the Capital, in the course of which he had strayed off the actual path of ‘ Rajdharma’ (the duty of the ruler).

Mr. Kejriwal’s four-page communication to Mr. Singh was in reaction to the abrupt transfers of two bureaucrats at the very foundation of the Aam Aadmi Party-led (AAP) Delhi government’s efforts to transform the Capital’s Value Added Tax (VAT) collection and education regimes, according to a government official.

Despite being rife with references to how his government was “not being allowed to work”, the Chief Minister’s letter ended with a warning to the Prime Minister to the effect that “if Mr. Modi is bent upon creating hurdles in our path, we are bent upon cleansing the system for the better”.

According to a source in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the decision to transfer the Commissioner of the VAT department, Vijay Kumar, and Director of Education, Padmini Singla, was taken at a meeting of the Joint Cadre (Review) committee that the Delhi government boycotted on July 23 with orders to this effect issued a day later.

As reported by The Hindu , the Delhi government had chosen to absent itself from the meeting — which is traditionally a bureaucratic affair — in reaction to being told that Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who had sought permission to attend it, could not do so given his status of being a political representative and the “dangerous precedent” it would set.

“Mr. Kumar was at the helm of our efforts to revolutionise VAT collection, while Ms. Singla was anchoring our objective of bettering Delhi’s education system. These transfers have been done with the single-minded aim to break the legs of two of our most significant initiatives,” said a government official.

The official said Mr. Kejriwal, in his letter, also questioned the decision given the fact that it was taken despite the availability of at least six bureaucrats – with the controversial Shakuntala Gamlin at the top of the list – for transfer with the terms of their postings in Delhi had elapsed.

Later, Mr. Kejriwal also took to Twitter to vent his dismay at the transfers. “Without consulting (the) elected government, (the) Modi government transfers two of our best officers out of Delhi — VAT commissioner and Director of Education,” he wrote.

The Chief Minister also said that Mr. Kumar had been transferred to Lakshadweep despite having occupied office for just a month, while adding that he wondered “Is this cooperative federalism”.

Detailing several instances through which “Mr. Modi had tried to derail the Delhi government through negative politics which will not go down well with the people of Delhi”, Mr. Kejriwal ended his letter with a crisp line in Hindi declaring “Aap pareshan karte rahiye, hum kaam karte rahenge (You keep troubling us, we will keep working, nonetheless)”.

The CM wrote to the Prime Minister in reaction to the

abrupt transfers

of two bureaucrats