Making the road to Opposition unity ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election smoother, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday announced that it will attend a meeting of Opposition parties in Bengaluru on July 17 and 18.
The announcement came hours after the Congress said it will not “support” an Ordinance on control over services in Delhi passed by the Central government.
After a meeting of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) — the highest decision-making body of the AAP — on Sunday evening, party Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha told the media, “The Congress, clearing its position, has expressed its opposition to the Ordinance. We welcome this announcement. The AAP, under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal, will take part in the meeting of like-minded parties in Bengaluru on July 17 and 18 and present its views.”
Earlier in the day, Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal told news agency PTI, “I think they [AAP] are going to join the meeting tomorrow. The Delhi Ordinance also, our stand is very clear. We are not going to support it.”
Responding to Mr. Venugopal’s statement, Trinamool Congress national spokesperson Derek O’Brien said in a tweet, “2024. Bring it on.”
On May 19, the Centre issued an Ordinance amending the Government of National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi Act, 1991, that effectively negates the May 11 Supreme Court judgment that gave the AAP government power to make laws and wield control over bureaucrats deputed to the Delhi government.
Minutes after a meeting of the Opposition parties in Patna on June 23, the AAP said in a statement that it will be “difficult” to be part of such meetings in the future, where the Congress is also a participant, until the Congress agrees that all its MPs in Rajya Sabha will oppose the Centre’s Ordinance.
Before the Patna meeting, Mr. Kejriwal had met different Opposition leaders separately and most of them extended support to defeat in the Rajya Sabha a Bill replacing the Ordinance, except for the Congress. During that time, despite Mr. Kejriwal accepting publicly that he had sought an appointment with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for a discussion on the Ordinance, Mr. Gandhi did not meet him.
The Central government has listed the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill 2023, which replaces the Ordinance, for the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament that begins on July 20.
Meanwhile, a Congress leader from Punjab said, “Congress expects that the AAP government won’t continue to target party leaders in Punjab.”
An AAP leader said that seat-sharing with Congress in Delhi and Punjab, where the AAP is the strongest compared to other States, will be a key issue that will have to be ironed out.
