No thaw in Kejriwal-Congress cold war over ordinance

Nearly two weeks after their leaders came face to face at the Opposition meeting in Patna, stalemate continues between the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party over the former dragging its feet on a key demand. Unless the Congress denounces the Centre’s Ordinance assuming control of administrative services in the AAP-ruled national capital, Arvind Kejriwal is unlikely to attend or send any representative to the Bangalore meeting of the Opposition on July 17-18.

Adding insult to injury, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi have kept Kejriwal waiting for a meeting despite the Delhi Chief Minister and AAP supremo requesting “an invitation for tea” from the duo.

The leaders of the two parties are likely to share space again on July 19 at the customary all-party meeting before the Monsoon Session of Parliament commences the next day.

During the Monsoon Session, the Centre is likely to introduce a bill to replace the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Ordinance, which effectively nullified the Supreme Court judgement that gave the Delhi government greater legislative and administrative control over “services” matter.

While the bill may see smooth passage in the Lok Sabha, the BJP lacks majority in the Rajya Sabha but has often succeeded in getting enough support from regional parties in the Upper House to pass its legislative agenda. Kejriwal has urged all non-BJP parties to come together to defeat the bill in the Rajya Sabha.

With inputs from News18

The post No thaw in Kejriwal-Congress cold war over ordinance first appeared on IPA Newspack.