Congress hints at dumping Kejriwal's plea to fight Modi govt's ordinance

In what is being seen as an endorsement of the stand of the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the Centre, Ajay Maken took to Twitter to state that none of the Prime Ministers, since independence, had allowed the elected Delhi government the powers to transfer and post officials.

Senior Congress leader Ajay Maken seems to have dashed the hopes of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to get the Grand Old Party to support him and the Aam Aadmi Party in the fight against the Centre over an ordinance on the control of administrative services in the national capital.

In what is being seen as an endorsement of the stand of the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the Centre, Maken took to Twitter to state that none of the Prime Ministers, since independence, had allowed the elected Delhi government the powers to transfer and post officials.

Maken said that anyone backing Kejriwal and opposing the ordinance is essentially going against the wisdom and decisions of Pandit Nehru, Bhimrao Ambedkar, Sardar Patel, Lal Bahadur Shastri, and Narasimha Rao.

He further said, "The key question remains -- if all the previous Delhi Chief Ministers could perform their roles without fuss, why is Kejriwal stirring up chaos now? Is this mere political posturing? Unfortunately, it's Delhi that bears the brunt of this unrest. In this turmoil, Delhi suffers the most."

To recall, the Centre had issued an ordinance last Friday creating a National Capital Civil Service Authority for the transfer of Indian Administrative Service and Dadra and Nagar Haveli (Civil) Services (DANICS) cadre officers and disciplinary proceedings against them. The ordinance came days after the Supreme Court handed over the control of services, excluding those related to public order, police and land, to the elected Delhi government. The ordinance needs to be ratified by Parliament within six months and for that the Centre will have to bring a bill for its passage in both Houses of Parliament

Meanwhile, Maken also questioned Kejriwal's politics of convenience in seeking the Congress party's support against the ordinance. 

Listing instances when Kejriwal had looked the other way when the Congress had sought support, Maken said: "Kejriwal seeks the support of the Congress Party. However, his past political engagements raise some questions. His party, along with the BJP, passed a resolution requesting the Union Government to withdraw Bharat Ratna from our beloved Rajiv (Gandhi) Ji. Moreover, Kejriwal backed the BJP both inside and outside of Parliament on the Jammu & Kashmir issue. This support came when J&K was divided and reduced to a union territory, leaving its people disenfranchised for five years. Kejriwal also supported the BJP during the move to impeach CJI Dipak Mishra on various charges. This was after the CJI refused to entertain a PIL for investigating the suspicious circumstances around the death of Justice Loya. Notably, Kejriwal was the first to implement the controversial anti-farmer Laws. His party also opposed the opposition's candidate for the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson and instead supported the BJP-sponsored candidate. Kejriwal's support for the BJP in Gujarat, Goa, Himachal, Assam, Uttarakhand, and in the recent Karnataka elections, where he fielded candidates against the Congress Party, also begs the question - Why only in states where Congress is the primary opposition or ruling party?"

Officially, Congress has said that a final call on whether to oppose a bill the government would bring to replace an Ordinance that nullified the top court verdict would be taken after consulting state units and like-minded parties.

"The Congress Party has not taken any decision on the issue of the Ordinance brought against the SC judgment on the powers of the Government of NCT of Delhi with respect to the appointment of officers. It will consult its state units & other like-minded parties on the same.

"The Party believes in the Rule of Law and at the same time does not condone unnecessary confrontation, political witch-hunt and campaigns based on lies against political opponents by any political party," Congress General Secretary K C Venugopal had said on Monday.