AAP leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will head to Chennai on Thursday to meet his Tamil Nadu counterpart M K Stalin seeking his party's support to defeat the Central ordinance on control of services.
"Will be meeting Tamil Nadu CM Thiru @mkstalin in Chennai tomorrow (June 1) to seek DMK's support against Centre's unconstitutional-undemocratic 'Anti-Delhi' Ordinance," he tweeted on Wednesday.
Kejriwal will also meet Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren on Friday.
Kejriwal has been meeting leaders of opposition parties across the country for the last many weeks to drum up support and strengthen opposition unity. He has ensured backing from CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief leader Uddhav Thackeray, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Bihar chief minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar and RJD leader Tejaswi Yadav too have supported Kejriwal.
Meanwhile, the DMK has promised all steps to coordinate the opposition ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Stalin, who flew back home from Japan on Wednesday, said his meeting with AAP leaders was part of "coordinating the opposition."
"That effort is already on," the DMK president said. "This is not new. DMK will also be involved in it wholeheartedly," he said.
Stalin also accused the ruling BJP at the Centre of trying to "intimidate" opposition parties using agencies like Income Tax, CBI and ED. His response comes as IT raids were held at the residences of DMK leader and minister V Senthil Balaji. "As far as the BJP government is concerned, avenging and targeting (other political parties) using IT, ED and CBI is already happening in other states. It has started here," he said.
The chief minister returned here following a nine-day official trip to Singapore and Japan to attract more investments in the state.
Meanwhile, despite Kejriwal's bid to get a meeting with Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi, the Congress camp has not yet made its stance clear on support for AAP in the fight against Ordinance.
Senior Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa on Wednesday said the party will not support the AAP on the Centre's ordinance on control of services in Delhi. His remarks came days after Congress leaders from Punjab met the party leadership in the national capital and suggested not supporting the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on the Delhi services ordinance issue.
Congress leader Ajay Maken too lashed out against AAP, stating Kejriwal was seeking "enhanced powers" over administrative services to stall probes into corruption allegations against his administration.
Taking to Twitter, Maken alleged that Kejriwal's true motives are exposed as he "aims to take control" over the vigilance department and is "challenging" decades of established governance norms. "Investigations into scandals like liquor-gate, Sheeshmahal (his lavish 171-crore residence violating MPD 2021 rules), Power Subsidy scam, buses purchase scam, and others will reveal the extent of corruption within his administration. And this is what he wants to stop," the Congress leader alleged.
However, AAP dismissed his criticism as the view of an individual and not his party.
