Howrah (West Bengal) [India], May 23 : Conducting meetings with leaders of opposition parties to cobble up a grand Opposition alliance to ensure that a bill related to the centre's Ordinance on transfers and postings of services is not passed in the Upper House, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said that if a bill related to the Centre's Ordinance is nullified in the Rajya Sabha, then it would be a semifinal of the next year's Lok Sabha elections.
"I think if the Ordinance by any chance couldn't be passed in the Rajya Sabha, then it would be a semifinal of 2024," Kejriwal said.
This comes after the Union Government on May 19 brought an ordinance to notify rules for the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) regarding the 'transfer posting, vigilance and other incidental matters'.
The Delhi Chief Minister was addressing a joint press conference, here, with his West Bengal and Punjab counterparts, Mamata Banerjee and Bhagwant Mann respectively.
Kejriwal met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata and also thanked Mamata Banerjee for agreeing to oppose the Ordinance in the Rajya Sabha.
Arvind Kejriwal alleged that the Central government wrested the powers of transfers and postings of services from the Delhi government in 2015.
"As soon as our government was formed for the first time in 2015, the Central government passed a simple notification and wrested all the powers of the elected government over the control of services," Kejriwal said.
He said that the notification was passed so that they couldn't do transfers and postings of any officer in Delhi.
"In fact, we could not even conduct discipline proceedings for an officer involved in wrongdoings. Then we moved to the Supreme Court and the apex court, eight years later, ruled in our favour and the people of Delhi won. A week after they [Centre] brought an Ordinance and overturned the top court's order," Kejriwal added.
Questioning the timing of the Ordinance, Kejriwal said, it was passed on that day when Supreme Court was going for summer vacation.
"They [Centre] knew that if the Ordinance would have challenged in the Supreme Court then the court would surely put a stay on it on the very next day," he said.
Sharpening his attacks further, he said that the Central government is reducing the opposition-ruled State's elected government's power in three ways.
"One where an opposition government is formed, there they topple the government by poaching MLAs. Second, where their government is not formed there they intimidate other party's MLAs by unleashing the Enforcement Directorate (ED), and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and form their [BJP] government. Thirdly, where they are not in power, there they through Governor, Ordinances, do not let the non-BJP government function," he added.
The ordinance was brought to amend the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991 and it circumvents the Supreme Court's, May 11, judgement in the Centre vs Delhi case.
The Aam Aadmi Party national convenor was accompanied by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and party leaders including Raghav Chadha and Sanjay Singh.
Urging the Opposition parties to unite together, the Trinamool Congress supremo, said that it is a big opportunity to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre, ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
"I want to appeal all the opposition parties to unite and that if all the opposition unite together then it will be a big message to the country that we can defeat the BJP in the Rajya Sabha and [the introduction of] Ordinance could be failed," the West Bengal Chief Minister said.
"It is a big opportunity to defeat the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls," she added.
Banerjee asserted that her party will oppose the bill related to the Centre's Ordinance in the Upper House.
"TMC will oppose the bill," she said, adding that we will go to the Supreme Court and seek justice.
Besides this, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said that the Centre troubles the Punjab government to the extent that once he had to move Supreme Court over allowing them to function the State's Budget Session.
Earlier, Kejriwal met Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and asked for his support in the Upper House of Parliament. Moreover, he will also meet senior opposition leaders like Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray in the coming days.
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