Mamata Banerjee said the Trinamool Congress will oppose the ordinance brought by the Centre against the Delhi government.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said the Trinamool Congress will oppose the ordinance brought by the Centre against the Delhi government and urged opposition parties to come together. Banerjee was addressing a joint press conference with Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann after their meeting in Kolkata.
“We support AAP in the fight against the Central ordinance ...Request all parties not to vote for BJP's law (on controlling appointments in Delhi),” Banerjee said.
She also said, "I request all parties not to vote for BJP's law (on controlling appointments in Delhi) ... this (contest in the Parliament) will be a semi-final before the 2024 elections.”
The meeting was part of a nationwide tour to garner support for Kejriwal's fight against the Centre's ordinance on control of services in Delhi.
“This government has become a government ‘of the agency, by the agency and for the agency’. We fear the Central government might change the Constitution, it might change the name of the country... They don't even respect the Supreme Court verdicts,” Banerjee added.
Kejriwal and Mann were accompanied by Aam Aadmi Party leaders Raghav Chadha and Atishi Singh. The off-camera meeting is expected to last several hours.
The meeting between the leaders reportedly focused on the central ordinance setting up a National Capital Civil Service Authority which essentially overturns a Supreme Court order last week giving control of services, excluding those related to police, public order and land, to the elected government in Delhi.
After a nearly hour-long meeting, Banerjee told newspersons that a forthcoming vote in Rajya Sabha on a bill to convert the central ordinance on control of services in Delhi into a law, will be a “semi-final before the 2024 elections.”
Kejriwal alleged the saffron party “buys MLAs, uses CBI, ED to try to break” opposition governments, besides using Governors to disturb non-BJP governments such as “Bengal and Punjab”.
Kejriwal and Mann also turned the impromptu press conference held after the meeting of the two leaders, into an attack on the BJP and central government.
The Delhi chief minister said, “The BJP has made a mockery of democracy … where it cannot form a government, it buys MLAs, uses CBI, ED to try to break the government …Governors to disturb non-BJP governments such as Bengal and Punjab.”
The bone of contention between the AAP government and the BJP has been the Central government ordinance setting up a National Capital Civil Service Authority which overturned a Supreme Court order last week giving control of services, excluding those related to police, public order and land, to the elected government in Delhi.
The new ordinance takes away these powers from the Delhi state government and gives them to a committee which would be effectively controlled by the Centre.
A central law has to be brought to replace the ordinance and opposition parties are hoping to stall that in the upper house or Rajya Sabha when it comes up for debate.
Before starting on the journey for Kolkata, Kejriwal had tweeted, "Today, I am starting my journey around the country for the rights of the people of Delhi. The Supreme Court had passed a judgement giving justice to the people of Delhi. The Centre snatched away those rights by bringing the ordinance."
"When this comes in the Rajya Sabha, it has to be ensured that it not passed. I will meet the leaders of all political parties and ask for support," he added.
The National Capital Civil Service Authority will handle the transfer of IAS and DANICS cadre officers and also matters of disciplinary proceedings against them.
The AAP has already sought the support of all non-BJP parties saying this is a “time for agni pariksha” for opposition parties, and that they should come together if they want to save the country's democracy and Constitution.
Disclaimer: This Article is auto-generated from the HT news service
