Will Congress back Kejriwal on ordinance row? Kharge to discuss with Delhi leaders May 29

AICC in charge of Delhi Shakti Sinh Gohil told ETV Bharat that the Congress president has called a meeting of senior Delhi leaders on May 29 over the ordinance issue which is being discussed within the party. -- Reports ETV Bharat's Amit Agnihotri.

New Delhi: Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge has called a meeting of senior Delhi unit leaders on May 29 whether the party should support AAP founder and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal over a central ordinance or not.

“The Congress president has called a meeting of senior Delhi leaders on May 29 over the ordinance issue which is being discussed within the party,” AICC in charge of Delhi Shakti Sinh Gohil told ETV Bharat. According to sources, senior leaders like JP Agarwal, Ajay Maken, Devender Yadav, Anil Chaudhary, Arvinder Singh Lovely and Haroon Yusuf are expected to attend the Monday meeting at Kharge’s residence.

The Delhi ordinance relates to the control of the central government over the appointment of officers in Delhi, the national capital territory, and has become a bone of contention between Kejriwal and the BJP-ruled Centre. The central government brought the ordinance recently after the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the Delhi government, which had been locked in a legal tussle with the Centre over who should control officers in the local administration.

The BJP hopes to pass the ordinance in the coming monsoon session of Parliament in July and will face no problem in getting the legislation passed in the Lok Sabha where the saffron party has a majority. However, the legislation could be blocked by the opposition in the Rajya Sabha. To mobilize support over the issue, Kejriwal has met TMC leader and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Shiva Sena UBT leader and former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, NCP leader Sharad Pawar, and interacted with BRS leader and Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Saturday.

On Friday, Kejriwal had sought time from Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi over the ordinance issue. However, the proposal of whether Congress should support Kejriwal over the ordinance issue or not has been opposed tooth and nail by the party’s Delhi and Punjab units.

Over the past years, former Delhi unit chief Ajay Maken, Delhi unit chief Anil Chaudhary and former MP Sandeep Dikshit have been attacking Kejriwal over various issues. All three leaders recently came out openly against Kejriwal seeking time from Kharge and Rahul Gandhi. The main grudge of these leaders is that Kejriwal came to power in Delhi in 2013 by leveling false charges against the Gandhis, former prime minister Manmohan Singh and former chief minister Sheila Dikshit.

Also, the Congress leaders charge that Kejriwal has been playing as a B-team of the BJP in various assembly polls like Goa, Uttarakhand, Delhi and Gujarat, where he ended up dividing the votes and helped the BJP indirectly.

“This Arvind Kejriwal is an old hand at deceit, lies and fraud. For his selfish interest, he will go down to unbelievable levels, sleep with anyone and stab the same people once his self-interest is fulfilled. Should the Congress even meet such mentally evil and corrupt persons,” Sandeep Dikshit told ETV Bharat.

“Did you ever stand with the Congress on undemocratic procedures that we are facing at the hands of the BJP? The Congress has a large heart but you should first apologize to the Congress, the Gandhi family, and Sheila Dikshitji for continuously abusing and defaming them for your vested interest,” AICC secretary Amrita Dhawan said.

The Congress fights the AAP in Delhi and Punjab and the state leaders are against backing Kejriwal or having an alliance with his party for the 2024 national polls. However, during the recent Budget Session of Parliament, when Kharge led 19 like-minded parties to demand a JPC probe into the Adani issues, AAP was one of them.

Later, Kejriwal had slammed the BJP for taking away Rahul Gandhi’s Lok Sabha membership after the former Congress chief was convicted and sentenced to a two-year jail term by a Surat court in a 2019 criminal defamation case involving PM Modi’s surname.

Former Delhi Congress chief and ex-Union minister Ajay Maken said that “Kejriwal seeks Congress support but backed the BJP and passed a resolution urging the Centre to withdraw Bharat Ratna from former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. Moreover, Kejriwal also supported the BJP over the removal of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir both inside and outside Parliament.”