Delhi government vs Centre: After Mamata, Kejriwal to meet Sharad Pawar, Uddhav

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann arrived in Mumbai on Tuesday evening to meet Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray. Kejriwal, Mann and other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders will meet Thackeray at his residence on Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday, he will meet Pawar in the afternoon at the Yashwantrao Chavan Center opposite the state administrative headquarters.

Earlier on Tuesday, Kejriwal and Mann met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata as part of their nationwide tour in support of AAP’s fight against the Centre’s ordinance on deregulation of services in Delhi. AAP leaders held a meeting with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo at the state secretariat for about an hour.

After the meeting, the Delhi chief minister told reporters that the upcoming vote in the Rajya Sabha to convert the central ordinance into law would be a ‘semi-final’ before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He also alleged that the saffron party ‘buys legislators, uses CBI, ED to harass non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments like Bengal, Punjab, Telangana and Andhra’ besides using governors To ‘try to topple’ governments.

Arvind Kejriwal said, ‘BJP has made a mockery of democracy.’

Mamata Banerjee told reporters that TMC supports AAP in its fight against the central ordinance.

“It is a great opportunity to defeat the BJP in the Rajya Sabha ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as all opposition parties are united on the issue of the ordinance,” he said.

The Bengal CM also quipped that the double engine (BJP’s government both in the state and at the Centre) has become a ‘troubled engine’.

Why are you and the Center at loggerheads over the new ordinance?

The bone of contention between the AAP government and the ruling BJP has been the central government’s ordinance setting up the National Capital Civil Services Authority, which last week set aside a Supreme Court order giving control over services, except those related to police, public order and land. was overturned To the elected government of Delhi. The new ordinance takes away these powers from the Delhi state government and gives them to a committee that will be effectively controlled by the Centre.

A central law has to be brought to replace the ordinance and opposition parties are expected to block it when it comes up for debate in the Upper House or Rajya Sabha.

The ordinance has to be approved by the Parliament within six months. For which the opposition hopes that the Center will have to bring a bill to get it passed in both the Houses of Parliament.

It is noteworthy that none of the chief ministers mentioned the ordinance in relation to the unity of the Congress party they were trying to forge. The largest opposition party is yet to clear its position on the ordinance, though senior Delhi Congress leader Ajay Maken on Tuesday strongly opposed extending any support to Arvind Kejriwal on the issue of the Centre’s ordinance on services administration. . National Capital.

Kejriwal had earlier met Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over the ordinance issue, following which Nitish Kumar extended full support to AAP in its standoff with the Center over the matter.

(with inputs from agencies)