Days after Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal sought an appointment with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi to rally their support in his party’s fight against the Modi Government’s ordinance and defeat it in the Rajya Sabha, the Congress units of Delhi and Punjab on Monday bluntly told the party leadership to maintain distance from the AAP.
The leaders from Delhi and Punjab have advised the party leadership not to speak about the Centre’s ordinance on control of services in the national Capital and not have any alliance with Kejriwal, who is mustering support from the Opposition to oppose the ordinance.
Kharge had convened a meeting of leaders fromDelhi and Punjab to seek their opinion on the matter. Former Congress president Rahul was also present during the meeting.
The leaders from Delhi and Punjab met the leadership separately. During the meeting, Delhi Congress leaders suggested that they should not have any alliance with the AAP.
Reportedly several leaders from the Congress told the leadership to not support Kejriwal, calling his party the “B-team” of the BJP and claiming he harmed the Congress’ interests not only in Delhi and Punjab but other States as well. The Congress leaders further advised the party leadership that either the party should remain silent or should not support Kejriwal on the ordinance issue. However, the leaders have left it to the High Command to take a final decision.
Congress leaders Ajay Maken, Arvinder Singh Lovely, Harun Yusuf, Delhi Congress president Anil Chaudhary attended the meeting. with Kharge and Rahul and shared their viewpoints on the issue.
During the meeting, Delhi Congress explained to the party leadership why they should not support Kejriwal. Similar sentiments were expressed by Punjab leaders led by State unit chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, sources said.
The Congress leadership will also meet party leaders from other States before deciding its position. After the meeting, Punjab Congress president Warring said they have put across their views before the party High Command and leftthe final decision to it. “All the leaders have said the party High Command will decide and we have left it to Kharge to take the final decision,” Warring said. He later tweeted a resolution passed by Punjab leaders who came to Delhi against the AAP Government in Punjab for its action against a journalist.
Former party chief Navjot Sidhu said what transpired during the meeting was a secret and only the Congress chief or Rahul would divulge the details. He, however, said India’s Constitution is a sacred ‘granth’ and he took inspiration from it.
Addressing the media at the party headquarters, Venugopal, who was also present in the meeting said, “Today we had discussions on this with Delhi and Punjab leadership.
They have given their concerns and views and certainly we will take a final call in the coming days.” Asked if the party has decided on Kharge’s meeting with Kejriwal on thelatter’s request, Venugopal said, “We will let you know once it’s decided.”
Kejriwal has reached out to several Opposition leaders over the past few weeks in a bid to drum up support for his cause, The AAP knows it lacks the numbers to defeat the ordinance in the Lok Sabha butreceived support from Bharat Rashtra Samithi formerly known as Telangana Rashtra Samithi (abbr.
TRS), Trinamool Congress, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Senafaction, Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party. Kejriwal’s ‘reach-out’ to the Congress wasalso rebuffed by ex-AAP leader Alka Lamba, who is now with the Congress.
On news last week that the Delhi CM had sought time to meet Kharge, Rahul and other top figures, Lamba tweeted ‘AAP should apologise (first)...’In his bid to muster numbers to defeat the BJP and its allies, Kejriwal needs the Congress’ 31 Rajya Sabha MPs; that of the Trinamool, the NCP and others on his side so far will fall short of the 93 lawmakers the BJP has on its own.