Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 16: The Congress, as expected, has decided to oppose the Delhi ordinance in Parliament paving the way for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to join the two-day opposition conclave in Bengaluru from Monday.
After weeks of dithering, the Congress on Sunday came out in support of the Aam Aadmi Party’s campaign against the contentious central order that wrested back control of Delhi’s bureaucracy.
The AAP’s Political Affairs Committee is scheduled to meet later Sunday evening to take a decision on the party attending the Bengaluru opposition meet. The meeting will also be attended by the Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann. The AAP has welcomed the Congress decision to oppose the ordinance as a “positive development” but the party chief and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said a final decision would be taken only by the PAC.
“I think they (AAP) are going to join the meeting tomorrow. As for the ordinance (on control of services in Delhi), our stand is very clear. We are not going to support it,” Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said on Sunday days after the AAP said it won’t join any such meeting till the Congress backs its stand on the Delhi ordinance.
With the Congress’s Delhi unit strongly against the party backing the AAP, the Congress softened its stance only on Saturday, stating its commitment to oppose any affronts to the constitutional rights of state governments.
Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal said the party took its decision on Saturday at a parliamentary strategy meeting. “The party’s stand is clear as it will oppose any such move by the Centre to intervene in States ruled by Opposition parties through the governors and has decided to oppose the Delhi ordinance in Parliament whenever a bill comes up.
“We are consistently opposing the attempts of the Union government to sabotage federalism. We are consistently opposing the attitude of the Central government to run the opposition states through the governors. Our stand is very clear, we are not going to support the Delhi ordinance,” he added.
Reacting to Venugopal’s remarks, AAP MP and national spokesperson Raghav Chadha said the Congress’ “unequivocal opposition” to the Delhi ordinance was a “positive development.” “Congress announces its unequivocal opposition to the Delhi Ordinance. This is a positive development,” Chadha tweeted.
The AAP had after the Patna conclave on June 23 made it clear that it would join the Bengaluru meeting only if the Congress extended its support to the AAP in opposing the Delhi ordinance in Parliament. In their first meeting in Patna, the opposition parties had resolved to take on the BJP unitedly in the 2024 Parliamentary elections, but later the AAP expressed its strong displeasure over the Congress party’s refusal then to give a commitment on the Delhi ordinance. The Congress had all along maintained that the strategy inside the Parliament were always taken only on the eve of the Parliamentary sessions and not in advance. The monsoon session or Parliament is scheduled to begin from July 20.
The BJP-led Central government brought the ordinance on the transfer and posting of bureaucrats in Delhi in May, virtually negating a Supreme Court verdict giving the elected government in Delhi the control over services matter. The ordinance seeks to set up a National Capital Civil Service Authority for the transfer of and disciplinary proceedings against Group-A officers from the DANICS cadre. Transfer and postings of all officers of the Delhi government were under the executive control of the lieutenant governor before the May 11 verdict of the Supreme Court.
The meeting in Bengaluru is expected to bring together leaders from 24 non-BJP parties, providing a platform to strategize for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Sonia Gandhi is also expected to join the gathering this time, which is seen as an attempt to expand the opposition alliance that currently consists of around 150 Lok Sabha members.
