New Delhi: Congress party put weeks of speculation to rest by deciding to support Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in its fight against the Delhi ordinance brought by the Central government on the control of services ahead.
The grand old party’s decision couldn’t have come at a more significant time. The Opposition parties are scheduled to meet for the second time, on July 17 in Bengaluru.
AAP had threatened to boycott the Bengaluru conclave, aimed to take forward the initial discussions of last month’s Patna meeting in a bid to forge a strong alliance that can take on the ruling BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress on Sunday made it clear that it won’t support the Narendra Modi-helmed government’s ordinance on control of services in Delhi and oppose any attempt to “sabotage federalism” in the country.
“We are consistently opposing the attempts of the Union government to sabotage federalism. We are consistently opposing the attitude of the Central government to run the Opposition states through Governors. Our stand is very clear, we are not going to support the Delhi ordinance,” PTI quoted Congress general secretary KC Venugopal as saying.
“I think they (AAP) are going to join the meeting tomorrow,” the senior Congress functionary added.
AAP leader Raghav Chadha welcomed Congress’ “unequivocal opposition” to the ordinance and described it as a “positive development.”
The AAP-led Delhi government has maintained that the Centre’s ordinance is “unconstitutional”.
AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal went on a nationwide tour to garner support against the ordinance.
Major opposition parties like Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal (United), Bharath Rashtriya Samiti, Nationalist Congress Party extended their support, but Congress kept its decision on hold.
AAP hit out against the Congress following the first Opposition meeting on June 23, stating that the latter’s “hesitation and refusal to act as a team player” will make it very difficult for them to be a part of any alliance that includes the Congress.
Now, that scenario is likely to change with AAP’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC) expected to decide about the party joining the Bengaluru meeting.
