Congress Succumbs to AAP Pressure to Oppose the Modi Govt Ordinance
Congress Succumbs to AAP Pressure to Oppose the Modi Govt Ordinance
The Congress decision will jeopardize the party’s chances of revival in Delhi and Punjab.
By Rakesh Raman
After a protracted dithering, the weak Congress party has succumbed to the pressure of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to oppose a government ordinance in the forthcoming Rajya Sabha session.
The AAP leader and Delhi chief minister (CM) Arvind Kejriwal had been arm-twisting opposition leaders to accept his demand of opposing the ordinance so that it does not become a law to clip the Kejriwal government’s wings in Delhi.
In May, the government of prime minister Narendra Modi had introduced an ordinance to deprive Kejriwal of the bureaucracy control and to check increasing corruption in the Kejriwal government.
As Kejriwal wants more powers in Delhi to dishonestly close corruption cases against him and other AAP leaders, he expects the Modi government’s ordinance to be defeated in Rajya Sabha where opposition parties have relatively more seats as compared to Lok Sabha.
If the ordinance does not get passed in the Rajya Sabha, Kejriwal will control Delhi’s bureaucrats and force them to drop crime and corruption cases against him and his party leaders.
A senior Delhi Congress leader Ajay Maken had said last month (June) that Kejriwal will soon be jailed for his involvement in massive corruption. In a long tweet, Maken said that like a couple of Kejriwal’s colleagues who are already in jail for their acts of corruption, Kejriwal will also be going to jail.
Many Congress leaders in Delhi believe that support to AAP means support to corruption. However, the senior Congress leadership neglected the sentiment of Delhi Congress leaders and workers to join hands with Kejriwal’s AAP which is facing multiple corruption cases.
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Although Kejriwal and AAP have been quite abusive against senior Congress leaders including Rahul Gandhi, Congress has decided to support Kejriwal because it wants AAP to join an amorphous opposition group which is planning to jointly fight the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
The Congress decision will jeopardize the party’s chances of revival in Delhi and Punjab where AAP rules and Congress and AAP are at daggers drawn in these two states.
Obviously, the Congress workers in Delhi and Punjab will also get demoralized as they had been warning the top leadership of the adverse consequences of any alliance with AAP.
While Congress has taken a risk to agree on a dirty deal with AAP, it is not certain if Kejriwal will support Congress in the Lok Sabha election because Kejriwal and other AAP leaders are known for their immoral behavior.
As a result of the unholy alliance between AAP and Congress, the AAP leaders are expected to attend an opposition unity meeting which is scheduled to be held on July 17 in Bangalore.
By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of the humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society. He has also launched the “Power Play: Lok Sabha Election 2024 in India” editorial section to cover the news, events, and other developments related to the 2024 election.
