Service Row: CM Kejriwal to Meet Mamata Today; Will Seek Support from Pawar, Uddhav Next

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is set to meet his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee around 3 pm on Tuesday amid the ongoing face-off with the Centre over the control of administrative services.

“I will meet Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata day after tomorrow. I will go to every state and will meet every leader to ask for their support to defeat this bill,” Kejriwal had said on Sunday. The two CMs have always had good relations.

The Delhi chief minister further said that if the bill is defeated in Rajya Sabha, it will send out the message that the BJP will lose the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. “It will be the semi-final of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” he said.

Parties That Are Supporting Kejriwal

Kejriwal had met Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar at his residence in Patna on Sunday. The JD(U) leader extended “complete support” to the AAP convenor as they called for opposition unity to take on the BJP.

Kumar said the Centre’s actions were “strange” and “baffling”. “How can you take away an elected government’s power,” the Janata Dal (United) leader asked.

He said Kejriwal is doing good work in Delhi and it’s surprising that his government is being stopped from doing its work. “That’s why we are saying that all (opposition parties) in the country should come together,” he said.

News agency PTI quoted AAP sources as saying that Kejriwal will meet former Maharashtra chief minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai on Wednesday and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar on May 25.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav too came in support of Delhi CM. “The Delhi ordinance is an insult to the judiciary. This is the result of negative politics of BJP and also of democratic-injustice,” Yadav said in a tweet in Hindi.

“BJP knows that it will be defeated in all the seats of Delhi in the Lok Sabha elections, that is why it is already taking revenge from the public. This is murder of mandate in the name of ordinance,” Yadav added.

What is the Delhi Ordinance Issue?

The Delhi chief minister has been urging opposition parties to defeat the ordinance that sets up the National Capital Civil Services Authority and gives it the power to transfer bureaucrats in the city.

This came a week after the Supreme Court handed over the control of services, excluding those related to police, public order and land, to the elected government in Delhi.

It also gives the power to the central government to make rules on the tenure, salaries, allowances, and other conditions of service of officers and other employees appointed or posted in Delhi.

An ordinance has to be ratified by Parliament within six months. For which, the Centre will have to bring a bill for its passage in both Houses of Parliament. Kejriwal said if the bill is defeated in Rajya Sabha, it will send out the message that the BJP will lose the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.