Alliance with Cong 'difficult' until it agrees to oppose Delhi ordinance: AAP

The Aam Aadmi Party on Friday said any alliance with the Congress will be very difficult after its war of words with the grand old party over the contentious Delhi ordinance issue at an opposition unity meeting in BiharAt the opposition meet in Patna many parties urged the Congress to publicly denounce the black ordinance but the grand old party refused to do so which raises suspicions about its real intentions the Aam Aadmi Party AAP said in a statement soon after the meetingThe Congress hesitation and refusal to act as a team player especially on an issue as important as this one will make it very difficult for the AAP to be a part of any alliance that includes the Congress the AAP saidUntil the Congress publicly denounces the black ordinance and declares that all 31 of its RS MPs will oppose the ordinance in the Rajya Sabha it will be difficult for the AAP to participate in future meetings of likeminded parties where the Congress is a participant it addedThe AAPs stance comes on a day when leaders from 17 opposition parties including party supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met in Patna and decided to work together and contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections unitedly by setting aside their differencesKejriwal Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and AAPs Rajya Sabha MPs Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chaddh attended the meeting but remained conspicuous by their absence at the joint press conference held by the opposition parties laterAlso readGet married Lalu tells Rahul at press meetThe Bharatiya Janata Party BJP took a potshot at the absence of Kejriwal at the opposition parties joint press conference in Patna and said the AAPs blackmailing at the beginning of the meeting itself showed the future of the unholy allianceCongress president Mallikarjun Kharge however said a decision on whether to oppose the Centres ordinance on the control of administrative services in Delhi will be taken before the Parliament session and wondered why it is being talked about elsewhere when the matter pertains to ParliamentThe Congress a national party that takes a stand on almost all issues is yet to make its position on the black ordinance public However the Congress Delhi and Punjab units have announced that the party should support the Narendra Modi government on this issue the AAP said in a statementToday during the meeting of likeminded parties in Patna many parties urged the Congress to publicly denounce the black ordinance However the Congress refused to do so it saidThe AAP termed the ordinance anticonstitutional and outright undemocratic and said it seeks to reverse the Supreme Courts judgment which held that the Delhi government has control over the administrative servicesThe Centres ordinance is an affront to the judiciary the party saidIt is high time the Congress decides whether it is standing with the people of Delhi or the Modi government it addedIn personal discussions senior Congress leaders have hinted that their party might informally or formally abstain from voting on it in the Rajya Sabha it chargedThe Congress abstention from voting on this issue will help the BJP immensely in furthering its attack on Indian democracy If left unchallenged this dangerous trend could spread to all other states resulting in the usurpation of power from democratically elected state governments It is crucial to defeat this black ordinance it saidExcept the Congress all other 11 parties which have representation in the Rajya Sabha have clearly expressed their stand against the iquestblack ordinanceiquest and announced that they would oppose it in the Upper House the party addedThe Centre had on May 19 promulgated an ordinance to create an authority for the transfer and posting of GroupA officers in Delhi a week after the apex court handed over the control of services in the national capital excluding police public order and land to the elected governmentFollowing the ordinance Kejriwal has been reaching out to leaders of nonBJP parties to garner their support against the ordinance so that the Centres bid to replace it through a bill is defeated when it is brought in ParliamentAAP chief spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar told PTI We have received information from reliable sources that Rahul Gandhi and the BJP have reached an agreement that the Congress will stand by the saffron party on the issue of this illegal ordinanceThe Congress should make it clear whether it is standing with the Constitution or the BJP she saidThe Centres ordinance seeks to set up a National Capital Civil Service Authority for the transfer of and disciplinary proceedings against GroupA officers from the DANICS cadreTransfer and postings of all officers of the Delhi government were under the executive control of the lieutenant governor before the May 11 verdict of the apex courtThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of 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