A day after the meeting of 15 Opposition parties in Patna, a senior AAP leader on June 24 asked as to how they could be part of an alliance with the Congress when the latter was not even ready to meet party chief Arvind Kejriwal.
When asked about Nitish Kumar’s statement after the meeting that the Opposition parties would fight together in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the leader said, “How can the AAP be part of a coalition with the Congress if it is not ready to even meet our leader (Mr. Kejriwal) or agree to vote against the ordinance. The Congress should at least sit down and talk.”
The leader said that during the meeting, even Mr. Kejriwal told Mr. Gandhi that he had been trying to meet him.
The leader added that the party was yet to take a decision on whether or not to attend the next meeting of the Opposition parties in Shimla.
After Friday’s meeting, the AAP issued an official statement that said it would be “difficult” to be part of such meetings in the future in which the Congress was a part, until the Congress agreed that all its MPs in the Rajya Sabha would oppose the Central government’s ordinance.
Though the AAP took part in the meeting, the AAP leaders stayed away from a joint press conference by the Leaders of Opposition parties after the meeting.
First issue
In the run up to the meeting, the AAP urged other parties to make the ordinance as the first issue to be decided at the meeting.
On May 19, the Centre issued the ordinance that seeks to amend the Government of National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi Act, 1991 and effectively negates the May 11 Supreme Court judgment that gave the AAP government the power to make laws and wield control over the bureaucrats deputed to the Delhi government, except for public order, police, and land.
Since then, Mr. Kejriwal met different Opposition leaders and most of them extended support to defeat in the Rajya Sabha, a Bill replacing the ordinance, except for the Congress.
Even before Friday’s meeting, despite Mr. Kejriwal’s accepting publicly that he had sought an appointment with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for a discussion on the ordinance, Mr. Gandhi did not meet him.
“Sit down and talk”
When asked about the AAP still attacking the Congress, while asking for its support for defeating the ordinance, the leader said, “Till you sit down and talk, both party leaders will continue to give such statements (attacking each other). The Congress should meet and say that we have a problem with five things and might agree to three of them, but for all that to happen you have to sit down and talk.”
“See, the Congress is the central piece of this Opposition unity. When the big brother is not even willing to talk, how can a small party go with them?” the leader asked.
But the leader did not give a conclusive answer on whether the AAP would take part in future meetings of the Opposition parties if the Congress did not oppose the Bill replacing the ordinance in the Rajya Sabha.
“We have just come back from Patna. The party will sit down and decide the future course of actions,” he added.
“When the big brother is not even willing to talk, how can a small party go with them”AAP leader
