Ahead of Second Opposition Meet, Delhi Ordinance Issue Still Divides AAP and Congress
New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has said that it has received an invitation from the Congress for the second opposition meeting in Bengaluru later this month, but will only decide on attending once the Congress publicly denounces the Ordinance for control of services in Delhi.
“The party has already communicated to [the] Congress that they must follow through on their assurance made to all parties during the Patna meeting that [the] Congress will be taking a position against the Ordinance 15 days before the start of the parliament session,” AAP spokesperson Akshay Marathe told The Wire.
The monsoon session of parliament is slated to begin on July 20.
“We are now past that 15-day mark. We are waiting for [the] Congress to take that stand, and until then, our previous position remains unchanged,” Marathe added.
The opposition meeting will be held on July 17 and 18 in Karnataka’s capital.
According to a source in the Congress, the party has issued invitations to all parties that attended the Patna meeting.
The source added, however, that nothing has been decided on taking a position on the Ordinance and the issue will be decided later.
Also Read: Centre's Ordinance on Delhi Services Violates the Spirit of Parliamentary Federalism
The rift between the AAP and the Congress dominated the first opposition meeting in Patna held on June 23, which was attended by 16 parties and was hosted by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar.
The Congress, Trinamool Congress (TMC), AAP, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Shiv Sena (UBT), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Samajwadi Party (SP), National Conference (NC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML), Janata Dal-United (JDU) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) attended the meeting.
The parties vowed to put up a united fight against the BJP in 2024 and finalise plans in the next meeting initially planned in Shimla, but later changed to Bengaluru.
While AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal did attend the Patna meeting, he skipped the press briefing after the discussion convened to send out a message of opposition unity.
Hours after the meeting concluded, the AAP said in a statement that it will be wary of the Congress’s “silence”, which raises “suspicions” about its “real intentions”.
"It's high time that Congress decides whether it stands with the people of Delhi or with the Modi government," the statement said.
On Friday, Kejriwal reiterated the party’s position after the Patna meeting and said to reporters that while the invitation has come from the Congress to attend the Bengaluru meeting, the AAP is still waiting for the Congress’s public statement denouncing the Delhi ordinance 15 days before the commencement of the Parliament session.
Congress की तरफ से निमंत्रण आया है।
पिछली बार Patna Meeting में Congress ने कहा था कि वो संसद सत्र के शुरू होने से 15 दिन पहले Publically Announce कर देंगे कि वो Ordinance के ख़िलाफ़ हैं,
और संसद में इस अध्यादेश के ख़िलाफ़ Vote डालेंगे
हम इसका इंतजार कर रहे हैं
- CM… pic.twitter.com/UShuaDsV2p
— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) July 8, 2023
Speaking to The Wire, Congress national spokesperson and former MP Udit Raj said that setting preconditions is not the way to move further. “If they (AAP) want to remove Modi or BJP in coming elections they should join hands with all opposition parties. Look at the case of Rahul Gandhi being disqualified as an MP, or the action against Senthilbalaji in Tamil Nadu. All regional parties including the Congress have a lot of issues and if they all make preconditions then what will happen?”
Also Read: Rahul Gandhi's Disqualification Constitutes An Abuse Of Power
“If you put preconditions, instead of working on a common programme, instead of fighting unitedly, then as a result nothing will come out. In a way they are serving the BJP then.”
“At least at this juncture they should not be harmful to allies,” he added.
Prior to the Patna meeting, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had also said that the parties would decide on the Ordinance issue before the start of the parliament session.
“Opposing it or proposing it does not happen outside, it happens in parliament. Before parliament begins, all parties decide what issues they have to work on together. They [AAP] know it and even their leaders come to our all-party meetings. I don’t know why there is so much publicity about it outside,” he had said.
The AAP, on the other hand, has said that its commitment to opposition unity has been quite clear.
“Kejriwal himself has been in conversation with all other regional parties, so there is enough and more in his conduct to suggest that he is considering an opposition alliance. He has said this on multiple occasions,” Marathe said.
“Why are we trying to unite against [the] BJP? Because [the] BJP is trying to destroy the constitutional framework,” he added.
“And one of the biggest grouses that regional parties have is that they're destroying the federal structure and if the Congress cannot take a stand about an issue about the federal structure of the constitution which is the Ordinance issue then what differentiates them from BJP when it comes to such a major issue?”
According to a source close to AAP, the Congress is using the ordinance issue either to keep the party out because they don’t actually want to work with Kejriwal or want to work out a way to get more seats to contest from.
The source added that if the Congress wants to assume leadership of an alliance, it must show respect and create an environment of mutual trust.
Along with the rift between the Congress and the AAP, the opposition meeting in Bengaluru will be the first since the rebellion in the NCP.
Ajit Pawar and nine other NCP MLAs split their party when they decided on July 2 to leave the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition the NCP was part of and join the BJP-led Maharashtra government.
However, most of the opposition leaders have used the rebellion to attack the BJP and indicated that the opposition unity hasn't been thrown off.
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