New Delhi: Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Saturday cleared the way for the grand old party to oppose the controversial Delhi ordinance during the monsoon session of Parliament starting July 20. The ordinance had been discussed within the party several times over the past weeks since Delhi Chief Minister and AAP founder Arvind Kejriwal sought the Congress support over the ordinance, but the main hurdle for the high command was the strong opposition from the Delhi and Punjab units over supporting the AAP.
“The Congress will oppose the ordinance whenever it is taken up during the monsoon session,” a senior AICC functionary said. “The Congress will continue to fight against the attacks of the Modi government on the constitutional rights of the elected State governments. This attack comes in various forms. Sometimes it comes directly from the Modi government and at times it comes through his appointees. We have opposed such attacks on the federal structure in the past and will continue to oppose it both inside and outside Parliament. The constitutional bodies have been weakened and the constitutional agencies have been misused by the Modi government,” Congress Communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh said when asked whether the party would oppose the Delhi ordinance during the monsoon session or not.
Also read: Rahul Gandhi moves SC challenging HC judgment declining to stay his conviction in Modi surname case
The Congress had been saying that it will clear its position when the session starts, but decided to oppose the ordinance at a crucial strategy meeting chaired by Sonia Gandhi on Saturday. The controversial ordinance issued by the Central government takes away the powers of the Delhi Chief Minister to appoint officers. Kejriwal had been mobilising support from the various opposition parties urging them to defeat the said ordinance during the monsoon session of Parliament.
The CPP meeting was to firm up the party’s strategy for the ensuing session and put up a united front against the Central government during the session. Party insiders said Sonia's nod for opposing the controversial ordinance came days ahead of the crucial opposition meeting being hosted by the Congress in Bengaluru on July 17-18 for the sake of the larger unit against the BJP ahead of the 2024 general elections.
As Sonia is likely to attend the Bengaluru meet, the Congress wanted to give a strong message from Karnataka and did not want the issue of an ordinance to put off the AAP and spoil the show. Kejriwal had raised the ordinance issue during the first opposition meeting in Patna on June 23, but was snubbed by Congress chief Kharge. He had been pressing the grand old party to clear its stand before the Bengaluru meet.
“As far as I know, AAP has been invited for the July 18 meeting,” said Ramesh. However, Congress insiders said that opposing the ordinance inside Parliament would not mean blanket support to the AAP and the grand old party would continue to target Kejriwal over other issues. Former Delhi unit chief Ajay Maken and Punjab unit chief Amarinder Raja Warring have been targeting AAP governments in the two states over various issues, including sanitation, floods, education and corruption.
