Opposition’s Bengaluru meet: AAP confirms attendance after Congress assures support on ordinance row

This weekend, the opposition alliance got a significant boost as Congress finally decided to support AAP in its fight against the Centre's controversial ordinance. AAP called the Congress move a positive development and said it will attend the Opposition parties meeting set to begin in Bengaluru on Monday.

New Delhi: In what can be termed as a boost to the opposition alliance against the BJP-led central government ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday said the Congress' "unequivocal opposition" to the Centre's ordinance on the control of administrative services in Delhi was "a positive development" while confirming it will attend the July 17 Opposition meeting in Bengaluru.

The party had earlier said it would join the forum only if the Congress extended its support to the AAP in opposing the Delhi ordinance in Parliament. As first reported by ETV Bharat on Saturday, the Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi cleared the way for the party to oppose the controversial Delhi ordinance during the monsoon session of Parliament starting July 20.

Speaking to the media on Sunday, AAP leader Raghav Chadha announced that the party will attend a meeting of opposition parties in Bengaluru to chalk out a joint strategy to take on the BJP unitedly in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. After a meeting of the AAP's highest decision-making body -- political affairs committee (PAC) -- at party national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence here, Chadha also welcomed the Congress' decision to oppose in Parliament the Centre's ordinance on the control of administrative services in Delhi.

The AAP had earlier said it would join the meeting in Bengaluru only if the Congress extended its support to the AAP in opposing the Delhi ordinance in Parliament. After the PAC deliberations, Chadha announced that the AAP under the leadership of Kejriwal will participate in the opposition meeting in Bengaluru, beginning with a dinner on Monday.

This will be the second meeting of more than a dozen opposition parties as they seek to chalk out a joint strategy to take on the BJP unitedly in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. In their first meeting in Patna, they resolved to take on the BJP unitedly in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Earlier today. Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said the party's stand is clear as it will oppose any such move by the Centre to intervene in states ruled by opposition parties through the governors and has decided to oppose the Delhi ordinance in Parliament whenever a bill comes up.

"We took the decision yesterday. We are not going to support any attempt to sabotage the federal system of the country and to intervene in state matters through governors. We will not support the Delhi ordinance," he said. Reacting to Venugopal's remarks, Raghav Chadha tweeted, "Congress announces its unequivocal opposition to the Delhi Ordinance. This is a positive development."

The BJP-led central government brought the ordinance on the transfer and posting of bureaucrats in Delhi in May, virtually negating a Supreme Court verdict giving the elected government in Delhi control over services matters. The ordinance seeks to set up a National Capital Civil Service Authority for the transfer of and disciplinary proceedings against Group-A officers from the DANICS cadre.