Kolkata: When Congress is still undecided over aligning with the AAP in Parliament, West Bengal chief minister and Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee assured her support to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and appealed to all 'like-minded' political parties to collectively protest against the ordinance. The Centre promulgated an ordinance to control administrative services that were earlier handed over to the Delhi government by the Supreme Court.
After meeting Kejriwal and Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann at Nabanna, Banerjee said: "Only Supreme Court can save the country. Bringing the Ordinance despite the apex court order indicates the Centre's bid to ignore an elected government. I appeal to all parties to together oppose this ordinance. This can be a strong message against the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Our party will oppose this Ordinance and we will seek justice from the Supreme Court."
Speaking on similar lines, Kejriwal said Supreme Court gave justice to the people of Delhi who have been fighting for the last eight years. "There is a tendency of the central government to crush elected governments if they do not support the BJP. Punjab government had to go to Supreme Court to hold their budget session and several non-BJP parties are facing similar problems. This is not my fight but the fight of all non-BJP governments," said Kejriwal.
On the issue of former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, Kejriwal criticised the central agencies saying this was not how an ex-deputy CM should be treated. He is an accused not proven guilty, he added. Echoing Kejriwal, Banerjee said that the manner in which CBI served a day's notice to the party leader and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee seemed as if they were their servants.
"There is a limit to one's ego. We fear the BJP may even go down to rename the country in their party's name or change the constitution. If we don't act today then the public won't spare us. They want to bulldoze the Constitution... It is a government of the bulldozer, by the bulldozer, for the bulldozer. They (BJP) don't even respect the Supreme Court verdict," she added.
Issuing a message of opposition unity ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Banerjee said she was 100 per cent for Telangana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand. "We are all together. I want your support. Only six months are left and any miracle can happen. Who can say what will happen tomorrow?
Earlier, Kejriwal landed at Kolkata's Netaji Subhas Bose International Airport this afternoon along with Mann and other party leaders. After arriving in Nabanna, the state secretariat in Kolkata at around 4 pm, they were given a cordial welcome by Banerjee along with state chief secretary HK Dwivedi.
Justifying the ordinance, the Centre had argued that dual authority and responsibility could hamper security along with administrative coordination. The Centre will bring a bill for ratifying the ordinance in the Parliament within six months.
Prior to his meeting with Banerjee, Kejriwal had met Bihar chief minister, Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav in Delhi and proposed a plan for blocking the ordinance. He will also take up the issue with Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and NCP head Sharad Pawar when he meets them in Mumbai on May 24 and 25.
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Apart from the ordinance, the Kejriwal-Banerjee meeting is also significant amid the ongoing talks of opposition unity ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Banerjee has already met several opposition leaders including Nitish Kumar, Tejashwi Yadav, Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy to discuss a collective strategy to fight against the BJP in the crucial elections next year. She had also met Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who however has already announced staying away from any collective opposition.
