Ahead of Friday’s meeting of non-BJP parties in Patna, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal has written to Opposition leaders for a discussion on the Centre’s ordinance on the control of administrative services in Delhi.
In his letter, Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal has asked Opposition leaders if the first order of business in the meeting should be the Centre’s ordinance in the national capital.
“I have studied this topic deeply and it would be wrong to think that such an ordinance can be brought only in the context of Delhi because Delhi is a half-state. It can even take away from a full state, just as the central government can completely take away the authority on the subjects of electricity, education, business etc, which are on the concurrent list, from any complete state by bringing such an ordinance,” Kejriwal wrote.
“The Central Government has done an experiment by bringing such an ordinance in the context of Delhi. If the central government succeeds in this experiment, then one by one it will issue similar ordinances for all non-BJP states and take away the officers of the states from all the subjects given in the concurrent list. That is why it becomes very important that all the parties and all the people together do not allow it to be passed in Parliament under any circumstances,” he added.
Kejriwal has met West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Telangana CM K C Rao, Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar, and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, over the past month, with all of them extending their support to the AAP in its fight against the BJP at the Centre.
Kejriwal has also written in his letter, “If this ordinance is implemented in Delhi, then democracy will end in Delhi. The people of Delhi will have no power to choose the government they want, then the Central Government will directly run the Delhi government through the LG, no matter which party the people choose. And after Delhi, democracy will be abolished in all the states one by one, that day is far away when the Prime Minister will run all the state governments through 33 Governors/LGs.”
The meeting of Opposition parties has been convened by Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar to work on a strategy to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.