Tamil Nadu: AAP seeks DMK’s support in fighting Center’s Bill
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M K Stalin on Thursday extended support to the AAP in its fight against the Centre’s Delhi Ordinance on control of services in the national capital following a meeting with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in Chennai. A delegation led by Kejriwal that included Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann met Stalin and senior DMK leaders seeking their support.
Emerging from the meeting, Stalin described Kejriwal as a good friend and said, “The Modi-led BJP government is pressuring Delhi UT and the AAP government there, by using Lt Governor. If the BJP government brings an ordinance on Delhi, the DMK will strongly oppose it. We had a discussion about other leaders’ views and I appeal to all leaders to support Arvind Kejriwal.”
Due to his prior engagement on June 12, he appealed to his Delhi counterpart to fix the opposition unity meet accordingly.Thanking the DMK leader, Kejriwal told journalists that with every passing day, he was becoming more confident of being able to defeat the Bill in the Parliament.DMK will support AAP against the Bill
“He has assured us the DMK will stand by the elected government of the Aam Aadmi Party, the people of Delhi, and help us in defeating this Bill and vote against it,” he added. The AAP chief has sought appointments with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, but they were yet to respond. “I am very confident that Congress should support this and there is no reason why Congress will not support this, because the ordinance is undemocratic and against the federal structure,” Kejriwal said.
On May 19, the Union Government promulgated an ordinance designating the Lieutenant Governor as the administrator of Delhi, giving him the final say on the postings and transfer of all bureaucrats serving in the Delhi government.The ordinance seeks to amend the Government of National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi Act, 1991 negating the May 11 Supreme Court judgment that gave the Kejriwal government the power to make laws and wield control over bureaucrats deputed to the Delhi government.If all parties will come together, then we can defeat the Bill
“The ordinance will come (as Bill) in the monsoon session of the Parliament. In Lok Sabha, BJP has a complete majority but in Rajya Sabha, BJP has only 93 of 238 members. If all the non-BJP parties come together, we can defeat this Bill in Parliament,” Kejriwal said calling for its defeat. He said this is undemocratic and against the federal structure.According to him, this will be like a semifinal before the 2024 Lok Sabha election. “If this Bill is defeated in Rajya Sabha, a strong message will go across the country that the entire opposition has come together and may be in 2024 Modi is not going to come back,” he added
