Will seek support to beat services ordinance: Kejriwal

Kejriwal also said he will meet Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday, Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday, and Sharad Pawar on Thursday to build support among the opposition parties

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said that he will seek the support of all parties to rally opposition and overturn the BJP-led central government’s ordinance on services in the Rajya Sabha.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal with his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar, Bihar deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, Bihar minister Sanjay Jha, and AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh on Sunday. (ANI)

Kejriwal also said that when the ordinance is slated for passing as a bill in Parliament, the fight in Rajya Sabha will be the “semi-final for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections”.

Kejriwal was speaking to the media outside his residence in Civil Lines after meeting Bihar chief minister and Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar and his deputy and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav. Both leaders expressed solidarity with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the ongoing tussle with the Centre over the control of administrative services in Delhi.

Kejriwal said he will also meet West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday in Kolkata, former Maharashtra CM and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday, and National Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday in Mumbai to build support among the opposition parties.

The Union government on Friday evening promulgated an ordinance effectively nullifying the Constitution bench judgment that shifted the authority of controlling bureaucrats in the national capital from the lieutenant governor to the Delhi government. The central government is later expected to introduce it in the parliament in the form of a bill.

Kejriwal on Sunday said that the powers from the elected government were snatched in just eight days after the SC judgment. “They gave all the powers to the LG to govern Delhi. This action is against the Constitution. Nitish ji has expressed solidarity with us and the people of Delhi. He is working towards an opposition unity,” Kejriwal told the media after the meeting.

“One by one, I will meet every party chief. I will go to each state and formally seek support to defeat this Bill in Rajya Sabha. I have also requested Nitish ji to talk to all parties,” Kejriwal said.

“For a government to run efficiently, it is very important the officers come under the control of the elected government as the court also noted. On Friday, the SC closed at 4pm, and they (the Centre) brought the ordinance at 10pm on the same day,” Kejriwal added.

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has a clear majority in Lok Sabha, where all of the party’s legislative agenda is expected to sail through. The NDA does not have a majority in the Rajya Sabha, but has often received support from Odisha’s Biju Janata Dal, Andhra Pradesh’s YSR Congress and Tamil Nadu’s AIADMK on its agenda -- giving it a virtual majority there as well.

The Union government can also choose not to bring the ordinance to parliament, and renew it six months later, as has been done in other cases in the past.

Kumar said that whatever was being done by the central government after the SC judgment was strange.

“According to the Constitution, the elected government has the right. Everyone in the country should be united so that they (the Centre) cannot tweak or change the Constitution. We are with them (AAP). We are trying for opposition parties to come together after which we will run a campaign so that law is followed in the country,” Kumar said.

Bihar’s deputy CM Yadav said that the BJP is troubling all rival party governments. “We came to express solidarity with Kejriwal. The SC judgment had clarified everything but the central government is discriminating against non-BJP states. They want to change the Constitution and we will not allow it. Would the LG have dared to do all this if there was a BJP government in Delhi,” he said.

Yadav said that the Delhi CM will emerge stronger out of this crisis. “BJP will never be elected back in Delhi,” he added.

On whether the Congress will support the opposition in overturning the ordinance in the Rajya Sabha, Kumar said that they -- the RJD and JD(U) are Congress’s allies -- will discuss the matter with the party. “We don’t think anyone will agree with a violation of the constitutional order,” he added.

Extending solidarity to the AAP, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday tweeted against the ordinance. “The ordinance is an insult of the judiciary. This is a result of negative politics and democratic-injustice by the BJP. BJP knows that it will lose in the Lok Sabha elections and in the name of ordinance, the mandate of the people is being murdered,” Yadav tweeted in Hindi.

During his Mumbai visit, Kejriwal is also expected to meet AAP workers in the city and discuss the reconstitution of the state unit and plan a strategy for the upcoming civic elections.

“Our party believes that the ordinance by the Centre limiting the powers of the Delhi government is against the Constitution and will do great damage to the democracy. Kejriwal is talking to all opposition leaders to stand united to defeat this ordinance in the Rajya Sabha. If we execute the defeat, it will be a precursor to the 2024 parliamentary elections,” Mumbai AAP chief Preeti Sharma Menon said.

This will be Kejriwal’s second visit to the city in the last three months. On February 24, he met Thackeray at his residence along with Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, Rajya Sabha MPs Sanjay Singh, and Raghav Chadha.

BJP MP Manoj Tiwari said that the Delhi CM is only trying to shield himself from corruption cases.

“He used to call all these people corrupt in the past and now he is seeking support from them. We saw how he met Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav. It shows that Kejriwal does not remain true to his words. People have already started sidelining him as seen in Karnataka (swearing-in ceremony). Whoever has aligned with Kejriwal has suffered,” said Tiwari.

BJP MP from New Delhi and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Meenakshi Lekhi, said that the SC in its judgment on services said that the central government can bring a law on this matter. “The ordinance has been brought since Parliament is not in session. The right of the President cannot be challenged in a UT like Delhi. The origin of this controversy is corruption. The moment the judgment came, attempts were made by them to remove officers working on vigilance cases and corruption as well as the chief secretary,” Lekhi added.