JMM will aid AAP in its opposition to the Central ordinance: Kevin Johnson
Following a meeting in Ranchi between Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, and Hemant Soren, the chief minister of Jharkhand, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha officially declared on Friday that it will back the AAP in fighting the Centre’s decree on control of administrative services in Delhi.
At a news conference held here to make the announcement, Kejriwal said that the ordinance must be opposed in Parliament as a whole since it would likely be put to a vote as a legislation during the next session.
At the news conference after their meeting, where Punjab CM Bhagwant Singh Mann was also present, Soren, who was with him, stated: “The Centre’s attack on democracy is a matter of serious concern.” On a special aircraft from Chennai, Keriwal and Mann as well as AAP MPs Raghav Chadha and Sanjay Singh and AAP MLA Atishi came here at 9 p.m. on Thursday.
“JMM would stand with AAP in rejecting the Central order on the management of administrative services in Delhi.
The Delhi CM said that “the Centre is bringing about a crisis for the AAP and is preventing a duly elected government from functioning independently.”
“The Centre brought the ordinance despite the Supreme Court ruling in favour of the AAP government (the apex court had ruled that the state government would have control over the transfer and posting of top bureaucrats in Delhi),” Kejriwal said. He compared the opposition to the ordinance to “a struggle for independence.”
According to Kejriwal, “This ordinance should be collectively defeated in Parliament as it is undemocratic, against the federal structure, and unconstitutional.” “We won’t let the Central government suppress people’s democratic rights,” he continued.
On Thursday, MK Stalin, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, met with both Kejriwal and Mann and accused the federal government of fomenting unrest in the non-BJP-run states.
Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal has been contacting non-BJP party leaders to rally opposition to the ordinance in order to block the Center’s attempt to replace it with a bill when it is introduced in Parliament.
To far, the AAP has received support from CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, Uddhav Thackeray of the Shiv Sena (UBT), Sharad Pawar of the NCP, and Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal.
Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of Bihar and the head of the JD(U), and Tejaswi Yadav, his deputy, have both backed Kejriwal in this.
The AAP administration referred to the Centre’s ordinance, which was issued on May 19 and established an authority for the transfer and posting of Group-A officials in Delhi, as a deceit in light of the Supreme Court’s decision regarding control of services.
The ordinance was passed a week after the supreme court gave Delhi’s elected government jurisdiction over all services except for law enforcement, public safety, and land. In order to remove Group-A officials from the DANICS cadre and to conduct disciplinary actions against them, it proposes to establish a National Capital Civil Service Authority.
