All is not well in the playground that is Delhi governance, with Aam Aadmi Party making their distrust of Lieutenent Governor Najeeb Jung public. It’s a tussle for authority between the two, with the LG being appointed by the Centre and the AAP-led government battling against Jung repeatedly. The latest round in their slugfest involves a bus service that was supposed to roll out yesterday but is now stuck in an anti-corruption enquiry.

On May 27, Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung sent the proposal for mobile app-based premium bus services back to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s office. The LG was reportedly mulling the possibility of ordering a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe and had sought disciplinary action against Transport Commissioner Sanjay Kumar, for having notified the scheme without the LG’s approval.

It was not the first instance of Jung and AAP airing their differences publicly. They’ve gone at each other over the appointments and transfers of bureaucrats earlier this month and there was also the embarrassing confusion over the regularization of guest teachers.

In April, the Delhi government had sent the LG a proposal to regularize 17,000 guest teachers so that they are given priority if they apply for permanent positions. Reportedly the file was sent to LG Jung’s office on April 28. Confident of its outcome, Delhi education minister Manish Sisodia made the proposal public and Delhiites received Sisodia’s pre-recorded phone calls congratulating contractual teachers for the success of summer camps. In the calls, Sisodia said that the regularisation process would start in due course once the file, which had been sent to the LG’s office, was cleared.

Except it’s now June and the file remains in limbo. Day before yesterday, AAP called a press conference in which leaders complained bitterly against Jung’s inaction. “BJP-led central government is using LG’s office for its political motives which is impacting lives of 17,000 teachers in Delhi”, said Dilip Pandey. “He should stop acting as a puppet of the Centre,” said Ashutosh, arguing that the LG had no right to stall or object to the proposal and that Jung was carrying out the Centre’s agenda of throwing a spanner into AAP’s works.

Maybe they should have reconsidered that “puppet” comment.

Barely 24 hours later, Delhi’s Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) initiated a probe into the premium bus service scheme on the basis of a complaint filed yesterday by Delhi Assembly Leader of Opposition (LoP) Vijendra Gupta of the BJP.

“We’ve initiated an enquiry into the matter after we received a complaint alleging issuance of illegal LG notification,” said ACB chief MK Meena, who was appointed by the LG last June. The allegations also include a charge that the Gurgaon-based bus service aggregator Shuttl was being favoured over others.

The premium bus service scheme is based on the results of Delhi’s first road-rationing experiment. On April 21, Transport Minister Gopal Rai announced that the service will start from June. The plan was to give license to aggregators with a fleet of at least 50 buses, who would launch an app on the lines of Ola and Uber, and decide their own fares but come within a regulatory framework. These air-conditioned buses were supposed to have wi-fi, fire extinguishers, CCTV cameras, GPS and first-aid kits on board.

Speaking to Newslaundry, Gupta, who has filed the complaint against the premium bus scheme, dismissed AAP’s allegation that the LG is working at the Centre’s behest. “It is well within the LG’s rights to question such orders. AAP is politicising the constitutional post of the LG,” said Gupta. “Prima facie, the charges against the premium bus service are serious. My complaint is based on facts and it is my responsibility to raise such issues as the LoP.”

Despite several attempts, AAP officials remained unavailable for comment.