TN’s Stalin vows support to AAP over Centre ordinance

Kejriwal said if the bill is defeated in Parliament, it will send out a strong message of Opposition unity

Tamil Nadu chief minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader MK Stalin on Thursday assured the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of support against a controversial ordinance on the transfer and posting of bureaucrats in Delhi, and added that he will appeal to leaders across the country to oppose the government when it brings a bill in Parliament to replace the ordinance.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann meet Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin in Chennai. (ANI)

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann met Stalin at his Chennai residence on Thursday in a series of meetings that the AAP leadership is holding to shore up support against the Union government’s May 19 ordinance that allowed it control over Delhi’s bureaucracy, effectively nullifying an order by a Constitution bench of the Supreme Court just days earlier.

“The Modi- led BJP government is not allowing the elected government in Delhi to function. They keep creating obstacles and troubling them.The DMK will oppose this ordinance. There is no doubt about it. We also discussed other leaders’ views and how other states can come together against the Bill. I appeal to leaders across India to oppose this Bill,” Stalin said at a joint press conference with Kejriwal and Mann.

Kejriwal said if the bill is defeated in Parliament, it will send out a strong message of Opposition unity. “If this bill is defeated in the Rajya Sabha, a strong message will go out across the country that the entire Opposition has come together, and the Modi government may be defeated in 2024,” Kejriwal added.

On May 11, the Supreme Court ruled that the Delhi government controls all bureaucrats serving Delhi with the exception of those in land, police and public order departments. A week later, the central government promulgated an ordinance that amended the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991, and reversed the top court’s judgement by providing greater control to the Centre-appointed lieutenant governor (LG) over Delhi’s services.

Kejirwal has already met West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav. He is expected to meet Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren on June 2.

The Delhi CM said he was awaiting a response from Congress president and leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, and Rahul Gandhi for an appointment. “There is no reason why the Congress will not support it (the ordinance) because it is undemocratic,” the AAP leader said.