Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, May 29: Ahead of the proposed June 12 meeting in Patna to forge an united opposition against the BJP, fissures have developed in the opposition ranks with the Congress virtually deciding to have no trucks with the Aam Aadmi Party.
Though the immediate issue was to close the opposition ranks to unitedly oppose in the Rajya Sabha the bill to replace the ordinance giving control of the administration under the Delhi government to the Centre-appointed Lieutenant Governor, the Congress stand on the issue is certain to impact the opposition unity for the 2024 Parliamentary elections.
The Delhi and Punjab units of the Congress on Monday
met the party leadership in Delhi in separate meetings and bluntly told the party leadership to maintain distance from the AAP. They suggested the high command not to support the AAP on the Delhi services Ordinance issue, sources said. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had convened a meeting of leaders from both states on seeking their opinion on the matter. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi was also present during the meetings.
The sources said a majority of the leaders told the leadership to have no truck with Arvind Kejriwal, calling him a “B-team” of the BJP and claiming he harmed the Congress’ interests not only in Delhi and Punjab but other states as well.
Sources said the meeting comes in the wake of Kejriwal requesting a meeting with Kharge and Gandhi to seek their support against the Ordinance brought by the Centre, which effectively nullified a Supreme Court order that gave to the Delhi government the power to transfer bureaucrats in the city.
Mallikarjun Kharge has reportedly conveyed to Arvind Kejriwal then that he would take a call on the matter after having a word with state party leaders. The sources said the Congress leadership would also meet party leaders from other states before deciding its position.
The AAP supremo and the Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had been making whirlwind tour of the country meeting the leaders of the national and regional non-BP parties for their support in the upper house to defeat the ordinance-replacing bill which he had described as the “semi-final” before the BJP’s defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring told reporters after the meeting they have put across their views before the party high command and left the final decision to it. “All the leaders have said the party high command will decide, and we have left it to party chief Mallikarjun Kharge to take the final decision,” Raja Warring told reporters after the meeting.
Former party chief Navjot Singh Sidhu said what transpired during the meeting was a secret and only the Congress chief or Rahul Gandhi would divulge the details. He, however, said India’s Constitution is a sacred ‘granth’ and he took inspiration from it. “But, I can say emphatically that the values of the Constitution are at its lowest ebb,” he said, citing instances where the Centre “trampled upon” the Constitution.
After the May 23 meetings on the Congress supporting the AAP on the ordinance issue, the Delhi and Punjab Congress leaders had raised objections. The leader of the opposition in Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa, senior Delhi Congress leaders Ajay Maken and Sandeep Dikshit, and others had taken to social media platforms to oppose any support for the AAP.
In a statement, posted on his Twitter handle, Maken explained the political as well as legal reasons why the Congress should not back Kejriwal. Citing political reasons, Maken said Kejriwal sought the Congress’ support but in the past along with the BJP passed a resolution requesting the Union government to withdraw the Bharat Ratna bestowed upon former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
“Mr. Kejriwal backed the BJP both inside and outside of Parliament on the Jammu & Kashmir issue, and supported the BJP during the move to impeach CJI Dipak Mishra on various charges. Was the first to implement the controversial anti-farmer laws and his party also opposed the Opposition’s candidate for the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson and instead supported the BJP-sponsored candidate,” Maken said. He added that the AAP fought the Assembly elections in Gujarat, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Assam, Uttarakhand, and Karnataka elections which were all States where the Congress was the primary Opposition or the ruling party and put up candidates against the Congress which only helped the BJP.
Giving a legal reason not to support the AAP, Maken said paragraph 95 of the Supreme Court decision on the May 11 order allows the Union government to modify the law. It states, “However if Parliament enacts a law granting executive power on any subject within the domain of NCTD, the executive power of the Lieutenant Governor shall be modified to the extent, as provided in that law.”
Talking about administrative reasons, Maken said the principles of cooperative federalism did not fit in Delhi’s context as it was not just a State or Union Territory but the National Capital belonging to the Union and, thus, to every Indian citizen. “As the National Capital, the Union government annually spends approximately ₹37,500 crores on various services, a burden not shared by the Delhi government,” Maken said.
While Maken took to Twitter to argue why the Congress should not support the AAP, Bajwa strongly endorsed his views. As the AAP plans to unite Opposition parties against the Centre’s Ordinance on control of services in Delhi, Bajwa, on Tuesday said, “AAP doesn’t deserve Congress’ solidarity.”
In a statement, Bajwa said the AAP deserved no solidarity from the Congress party because it had unleashed a ruthless witch-hunt campaign against the Congress MLAs, leaders and workers in Punjab and made their lives hell by misusing the police and investigation agencies. The Congress leader urged the party “high command” to consult the leadership of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, and Karnataka before considering to help the AAP on the Ordinance issue.
“In order to strangulate the voice of the main Opposition party – the Congress Party – in Punjab, the AAP government in Punjab stooped to the lowest level and lodged false FIRs against Congress leaders and workers, right from the former chief minister to village sarpanches and panches,” alleged Bajwa. “I appeal to INC high command to consult the leadership of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, and Karnataka before even considering to help AAP. It was instrumental in giving a political edge to BJP in these States. The AAP is the B team of BJP and they are two sides of the same coin,” he said.
Fissures have also developed in the JD(U), the ruling party in Bihar in view of the deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha Harivansh, who belonged to the JD(U), attending the inauguration of the new Parliament building by the prime minister Narendra Modi on Sunday even though the party had announced boycotting the ceremony along with 19 other opposition parties protesting against Modi leading the show instead of the President Droupadi Murmu.
The JD(U) chief spokesman Neeraj Kumar on Monday lashed out at Harivansh for taking part in the inauguration of the new Parliament building despite boycott of the function by the party.
In a strongly worded statement, Kumar deplored the journalist-turned-politician’s participation in a function where “even your Chairman, the Honourable Vice President, was not present.” “The party had sent you to the Rajya Sabha in recognition of your contributions to journalism. But when a dark chapter in the history of parliamentary democracy in the country, you traded intellectual integrity for your high office”, said the JD(U) spokesman.
The JD(U) spokesman added “It is for the top leadership to decide what action to take in view of your participation despite the party having decided to boycott. But future generations will what to make of your action that was unbecoming of a person of your stature.”
