Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will meet his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata on Tuesday to seek her support amid the tussle between Delhi government and Centre over the control of administrative services. Reports said the Aam Aadmi Party chief will also meet NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai.
The Centre on Friday promulgated an ordinance to create a National Capital Civil Service Authority for the transfer of IAS and DANICS cadre officers and disciplinary proceedings against them in the national capital. The ordinance came just a week after the Supreme Court ruled that the control of services, excluding those related to police, public order and land, rests with the elected government in Delhi.
"Day after tomorrow (Tuesday), I have a meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata at 3 pm. After that, I will meet every party's president to seek their formal support for defeating the bill when it comes in Rajya Sabha," Kejriwal said.
The parliament has to ratify the ordinance within six month, for which the Centre will have to bring a bill for its passage in both houses. Kejriwal said if the bill is defeated in Rajya Sabha, it will send out the message that the BJP will lose the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Quoting AAP sources, ANI reported that Kejriwal will meet Thackeray on May 24 and Pawar on May 25.
Earlier, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav met Kejriwal at his residence and offered full support to him over the issue. Nitish said he will also request other opposition parties to support the Delhi government.
"How can you take away an elected government's power," the Janata Dal (United) leader asked.
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav have already come in support of Kejriwal over the issue. "Whatever happened in Delhi is a wake-up call for everyone. Whatever happened in Jammu and Kashmir is going to happen around the whole country," Mufti said in Bengaluru where she attended the swearing-in of Siddaramaiah government.
Terming the Centre's ordinance as an insult to judiciary, Akhilesh said this is the result of negative politics of BJP and also of democratic-injustice.
"BJP knows that it will be defeated in all the seats of Delhi in the Lok Sabha elections, that is why it is already taking revenge from the public. This is murder of mandate in the name of ordinance," he said.
