Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will meet his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday, aiming to garner her support to defeat the ordinance promulgated by the Centre to seize control over bureaucracy in Delhi.
The visit also comes amid the move to forge opposition unity to take on BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. While Mamata has extended conditional support to the Congress, Kejriwal, though at loggerheads with the grand old party, is in talks with JD (U) leader and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar to join the anti-BJP alliance.
Kejriwal will reportedly be accompanied by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and the meeting is scheduled for 3 pm. The AAP chief and Mann are scheduled to land at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in the afternoon. They will hold a brief meeting with AAP leaders of West Bengal before visiting the state secretariat Nabanna to meet the Trinamool Congress chief.
"They are scheduled to have a closed-door meeting at the state secretariat. They may also hold a discussion on probable strategies for next year's general elections," a senior TMC leader said.
The AAP chief will also travel to all non-BJP-ruled states, including Maharashtra, to reach out personally to all leaders in the opposition camp to defeat the ordinance in Rajya Sabha. Quoting AAP sources, ANI reported that Kejriwal will meet Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray on May 24 and NCP chief Sharad Pawar on May 25.
"In case the Centre brings this ordinance as a Bill, if all non-BJP parties come together, it can be defeated in Rajya Sabha. If such a thing happens, it can send a message that the BJP govt will be out in 2024," Kejriwal told reporters after his Sunday meeting with Nitish Kumar.
The Narendra Modi government promulgated an ordinance to create a National Capital Civil Service Authority for the transfer of IAS and DANICS cadre officers and disciplinary proceedings against them in the national capital. The move was seen as a counter to the Supreme Court verdict that favoured the Delhi Government on the control of services.
Following this, Nitish Kumar met Kejriwal at his residence and promised his support to the Delhi government over the Ordinance issue. The Bihar chief minister said he would also request other opposition parties to come in support of the AAP government.
Meanwhile, the Congress on Monday asked the Centre to honour the Supreme Court verdict on the Delhi services matter and said a final call on whether to oppose a bill the government would bring to replace an Ordinance that nullified the top court verdict would be taken after consulting state units and like-minded parties.
Sources said the Congress may consider opposing the bill when it is introduced in Parliament.
"The Congress Party has not taken any decision on the issue of the Ordinance brought against the SC judgment on the powers of the Government of NCT of Delhi with respect to the appointment of officers. It will consult its state units & other like-minded parties on the same.
"The Party believes in the Rule of Law and at the same time does not condone unnecessary confrontation, political witch-hunt and campaigns based on lies against political opponents by any political party," Congress General Secretary K C Venugopal tweeted.
The BJP, for its part, will seek the support of parties such as the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and YSRCP, which have nine MPs each in the Rajya Sabha, to get the legislation passed in the Upper House in case the Opposition gets together on the issue.
While a united Opposition has 111 MPs in the Rajya Sabha, the ruling BJP and its allies have almost an equal number of MPs.
