AAP all set for Bengaluru trip after Cong climbdown

Ending weeks of suspense, the Aam Aadmi Party finally decided to attend the second meeting of opposition parties in Bengaluru on July 17 and 18 as the Congress declared it was against the Delhi ordinance. One of its key demands met, the Arvind Kejriwal-led party made this decision after a crucial meeting of its political affairs committee at 4 pm.

“The Congress party has cleared its stand today. We welcome the decision. AAP, under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal, will participate in the meeting of like-minded parties on 17th and 18th,” AAP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha, who is a member of the political affairs committee (PAC), told the media.

It is a big boost for Kejriwal to have managed the support of key opposition parties, including the Congress, on the Delhi ordinance issue. It was Congress Rajya Sabha MP KC Venugopal’s statement to news agency PTI, hours ahead of the AAP’s PAC meeting, that proved to be the icebreaker. Unlike his fellow party leader Jairam Ramesh, he specifically mentioned his party’s opposition to the contentious ordinance.

Responding to Venugopal, Chadha tweeted: “Congress announces its unequivocal opposition to the Delhi Ordinance. It is a positive development.”

Congress announces its unequivocal opposition to the Delhi Ordinance. This is a positive development.— Raghav Chadha (@raghav_chadha) July 16, 2023

After the first edition of the opposition meet in Patna on June 23, the AAP had said unless the Congress fulfilled its key demand of publicly denouncing the Delhi ordinance, it will be “difficult” for the AAP to be part of the next such meeting. It had also said it wanted the grand old party to commit that all its 31 MPs will vote against it in the Rajya Sabha.

This morning, sources within the AAP indicated that Kejriwal was not fully satisfied with Ramesh’s statement on Saturday that came after a meeting of his party’s parliamentary strategy group.

The Rajya Sabha MP indirectly indicated that the Congress was opposed to the Delhi ordinance, but did not make any explicit reference to it or the AAP. In a long winded statement, he said, “The third issue – the attacks on the federal structure directly by the (Narendra) Modi government, and there are examples that attacks are launched by his appointees. This is a violation of the Constitution. This is a direct attack on elected state governments… by the governors. The Congress has always stood against this and fought this and will continue to fight this inside and outside Parliament. This is a very important issue for us and we will raise it on priority.”

Replying to a specific question on the Delhi ordinance, Ramesh said: “The Congress has always fought the Modi government’s assaults on constitutional rights and responsibilities of democratically elected state governments and local bodies. This assault comes directly and from the appointees of the Modi government like the governor. We have opposed it both inside and outside Parliament.”

Again, he did not specifically mention the AAP or the Centre’s May 19 ordinance, which Kejriwal’s party was keenly awaiting. Chadha and other PAC members – Pankaj Gupta, Durgesh Pathak, Gopal Rai, Atishi, Imran Hussein, Rakhi Bidlan and special invitee Sandeep Pathak – were present at the meeting. Other special invitees, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann and MP Sanjay Singh, joined the meeting via videoconferencing.

With inputs from News18

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