Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday met Communist Party of India general secretary D. Raja, who extended support to AAP against the Centre’s ordinance on control over administrative services in the national capital.
Mr. Raja said his party’s stand is well known and they will stand by AAP in opposing the Bill to replace the ordinance, whenever it comes in Parliament.
“The ordinance was framed in blatant violation of the established principles of federalism enshrined in the Constitution. The Narendra Modi government seeks to snatch away powers of an elected government. Today it is Delhi, tomorrow it could be any other State government. Bureaucrats can’t run the State because they are not directly accountable to the voters. Which is why we have elected representatives. The ordinance makes Chief Minister and his Cabinet completely powerless,” Mr. Raja said.
Mr. Kejriwal said the ordinance is a brazen power grab and it has wreaked havoc on Delhi, and the Central government has practically taken over the entire Delhi government.
The ordinance seeks to amend the Government of National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi Act, 1991, and effectively negates the May 11 Supreme Court judgment that gave the AAP government the power to make laws and wield control over bureaucrats deputed to the Delhi government.
Since then, the AAP chief has met different leaders, including Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, among other Opposition leaders to seek support to defeat the Bill in Rajya Sabha.
On Sunday, addressing thousands of Aam Aadmi Party workers at a “maha rally” in Ramlila Maidan against the “unconstitutional” ordinance, the AAP supremo also warned other States that they will next on the list of similar ordinances by the Central government.
