NEW DELHI: After much prevarication, the Congress on Sunday decided to support Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over the Narendra Modi government’s ordinance on the control of services in Delhi by declaring that it will oppose a bill whenever it is introduced in Parliament. However, the stand seems to be more about optics than about gaining much politically in concrete terms.
Congress general secretary in-charge of organisation KC Venugopal reportedly said the party is 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 the governors. Our stand is very clear, we are not going to support the Delhi ordinance,” he said.
Close on the heels of the Congress’s new stand over the Delhi ordinance, AAP hailed the decision. Welcoming the Congress’s “unequivocal opposition” to the ordinance, the party’s national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha termed it as a “positive development”.
AAP has been trying to muster support for defeat in Parliament of the ordinance which seeks to set up a National Capital Civil Service Authority for the transfer of and disciplinary proceedings against Group-A officers from the Dadra and Nagar Haveli (Civil) Services (DANICS) cadre. Transfer and postings of all officers of the Delhi government were under the executive control of the lieutenant governor (LG) before the May 11 verdict of the Supreme Court.
AAP convener and Delhi chief minister Kejriwal has been meeting the opposition leaders in order to garner support for the defeat of the ordinance whenever a bill to the effect is introduced in Parliament.
While the leaders of the state unit of the Congress were vocal in their support to the ordinance, the party’s central leadership did not make its stand clear.
AAP had been pressing the Congress to support its stand. Kejriwal was reported to be sulking over the Congress’s unclear stand. Though he had attended the joint opposition meeting at Patna on June 23, the party put a condition for attending the joint opposition’s meeting at Bengaluru on July 17 and 18. It said it would join the meeting if the Congress extended its support to AAP in opposing the Delhi ordinance in Parliament.
While AAP has got a shot in its arm, the Congress seems to have hardly gained out of the decision.
Contradicting Delhi Congress
The Congress may only antagonise the state unit of the party by deciding to support AAP.
Former Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken and former Lok Sabha MP Sandeep Dikshit have always supported the ordinance.
In a tweet on May 31, Maken, a former Union minister, had said, “Kejriwal’s true motives are exposed as he openly seeks enhanced powers over services, aiming to take control over the vigilance department and challenging decades of established governance norms. He conveniently downplays his true intentions. Investigations into scandals like liquor-gate, Sheeshmahal (his lavish 171-crore residence violating MPD 2021 rules), power subsidy scam, buses purchase scam and others will reveal the extent of corruption within his administration. And this is what he wants to stop.”
He further said, “Let’s not forget that the powers he seeks were intentionally vested in the central government by eminent leaders like Ambedkar, Nehru, Patel, Shastri, Narasimha Rao, Vajpayee, and Manmohan Singh to prevent a multiplicity of authority in the National Capital Territory. The truth will inevitably come to light.”
Dikshit, son of former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, was quoted as saying also on May 31: “I support the ordinance against the Delhi government. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal is very well aware that if he does not get control of the vigilance department, he will be sent to jail for at least 8-10 years.”
The stand of the Congress leadership is against that maintained by the party’s state leaders. This is likely to confuse the party workers in Delhi and even antagonise them.
BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya said the Delhi Congress had opposed support for AAP while Congress West Bengal president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is standing up against chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s “murderous” regime in the eastern state.
He said, “But in both states, the central leadership of the Congress has struck a deal with AAP and TMC, with no gain in return. Congress has regularly compromised the interests of its state units and reduced itself to a bunch of people running around Rahul Gandhi, to keep him relevant.”
Number game in Parliament
Though AAP has been trying to enlist the support of as many leaders as possible, the number game goes against it. Out of the 237 Rajya Sabha MPs, AAP has 10 members. Moreover, the opposition is not in a majority in the upper house. The BJP-led NDA along with some opposition parties such as the YSRCP and BJD is in a majority.
As far as the Lok Sabha is concerned, the NDA has a brute majority, with the BJP alone having 301 MPs out of the 538 members.
With the defeat of the NDA being unlikely, the Congress will not achieve any purpose by opposing the Bill and supporting AAP. It had the option of criticising the Centre, talk against the ordinance but boycott before the bill would have been put to vote.
Seat-sharing in Lok Sabha and assembly elections in Delhi
AAP, which was born out of anti-Congressism in 2012, has wiped out the Congress in Delhi. The Congress failed to open its account in the 2015 and 2020 assembly elections. The Congress has suffered the maximum damage from AAP which ate into its votes rendering it powerless in Delhi.
It also cost the Congress dear in the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP has won all the seven Lok Sabha seats in the 2014 and 2019 elections while the Congress drawing a nil in both of them.
The Congress had refused to have any truck with AAP so far. It had been trying to wrest the eroded support back from AAP. However, a truck with AAP may only demoralise the Congress workers without helping the party achieve any electoral gains.
Congress general secretary in-charge of organisation KC Venugopal reportedly said the party is 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 the governors. Our stand is very clear, we are not going to support the Delhi ordinance,” he said.
Close on the heels of the Congress’s new stand over the Delhi ordinance, AAP hailed the decision. Welcoming the Congress’s “unequivocal opposition” to the ordinance, the party’s national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha termed it as a “positive development”.
AAP has been trying to muster support for defeat in Parliament of the ordinance which seeks to set up a National Capital Civil Service Authority for the transfer of and disciplinary proceedings against Group-A officers from the Dadra and Nagar Haveli (Civil) Services (DANICS) cadre. Transfer and postings of all officers of the Delhi government were under the executive control of the lieutenant governor (LG) before the May 11 verdict of the Supreme Court.
AAP convener and Delhi chief minister Kejriwal has been meeting the opposition leaders in order to garner support for the defeat of the ordinance whenever a bill to the effect is introduced in Parliament.
While the leaders of the state unit of the Congress were vocal in their support to the ordinance, the party’s central leadership did not make its stand clear.
AAP had been pressing the Congress to support its stand. Kejriwal was reported to be sulking over the Congress’s unclear stand. Though he had attended the joint opposition meeting at Patna on June 23, the party put a condition for attending the joint opposition’s meeting at Bengaluru on July 17 and 18. It said it would join the meeting if the Congress extended its support to AAP in opposing the Delhi ordinance in Parliament.
While AAP has got a shot in its arm, the Congress seems to have hardly gained out of the decision.
Contradicting Delhi Congress
The Congress may only antagonise the state unit of the party by deciding to support AAP.
Former Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken and former Lok Sabha MP Sandeep Dikshit have always supported the ordinance.
In a tweet on May 31, Maken, a former Union minister, had said, “Kejriwal’s true motives are exposed as he openly seeks enhanced powers over services, aiming to take control over the vigilance department and challenging decades of established governance norms. He conveniently downplays his true intentions. Investigations into scandals like liquor-gate, Sheeshmahal (his lavish 171-crore residence violating MPD 2021 rules), power subsidy scam, buses purchase scam and others will reveal the extent of corruption within his administration. And this is what he wants to stop.”
He further said, “Let’s not forget that the powers he seeks were intentionally vested in the central government by eminent leaders like Ambedkar, Nehru, Patel, Shastri, Narasimha Rao, Vajpayee, and Manmohan Singh to prevent a multiplicity of authority in the National Capital Territory. The truth will inevitably come to light.”
Dikshit, son of former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, was quoted as saying also on May 31: “I support the ordinance against the Delhi government. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal is very well aware that if he does not get control of the vigilance department, he will be sent to jail for at least 8-10 years.”
The stand of the Congress leadership is against that maintained by the party’s state leaders. This is likely to confuse the party workers in Delhi and even antagonise them.
BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya said the Delhi Congress had opposed support for AAP while Congress West Bengal president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is standing up against chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s “murderous” regime in the eastern state.
He said, “But in both states, the central leadership of the Congress has struck a deal with AAP and TMC, with no gain in return. Congress has regularly compromised the interests of its state units and reduced itself to a bunch of people running around Rahul Gandhi, to keep him relevant.”
Number game in Parliament
Though AAP has been trying to enlist the support of as many leaders as possible, the number game goes against it. Out of the 237 Rajya Sabha MPs, AAP has 10 members. Moreover, the opposition is not in a majority in the upper house. The BJP-led NDA along with some opposition parties such as the YSRCP and BJD is in a majority.
As far as the Lok Sabha is concerned, the NDA has a brute majority, with the BJP alone having 301 MPs out of the 538 members.
With the defeat of the NDA being unlikely, the Congress will not achieve any purpose by opposing the Bill and supporting AAP. It had the option of criticising the Centre, talk against the ordinance but boycott before the bill would have been put to vote.
Seat-sharing in Lok Sabha and assembly elections in Delhi
AAP, which was born out of anti-Congressism in 2012, has wiped out the Congress in Delhi. The Congress failed to open its account in the 2015 and 2020 assembly elections. The Congress has suffered the maximum damage from AAP which ate into its votes rendering it powerless in Delhi.
It also cost the Congress dear in the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP has won all the seven Lok Sabha seats in the 2014 and 2019 elections while the Congress drawing a nil in both of them.
The Congress had refused to have any truck with AAP so far. It had been trying to wrest the eroded support back from AAP. However, a truck with AAP may only demoralise the Congress workers without helping the party achieve any electoral gains.