How Kejriwal built a massive Opposition campaign against Centre’s Delhi ordinance 

By Amit Bhardwaj: “The (Delhi Services) Bill is undemocratic,” Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav declared at a press conference in Lucknow on Wednesday noon. He had Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national Convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann sharing the dais with him. Akhilesh Yadav soon announced that the Samajwadi Party is going to oppose the Delhi Services Bill in the Rajya Sabha.

With this, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal now has the support of 10 opposition parties and hopes to block the NCCSA Bill in the Upper House as and when the Central government tables it.

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For the past few weeks, Kejriwal has been on a nationwide campaign. He has met a number of opposition leaders, heads of opposition parties and chief ministers of states such as Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand and West Bengal. The AAP chief has been urging the Opposition parties to oppose the Delhi Services Bill in Rajya Sabha.

Kejriwal’s nationwide campaign stems from the Centre’s move of overturning the Supreme Court’s verdict on the transfer-posting of bureaucrats in Delhi via an Ordinance.

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In May, the Supreme Court, in a historic verdict, had given the Delhi Government complete control of the bureaucrats working with or attached to the GNCTD. It was after eight years of a legal battle that the Kejriwal government would have exercised complete authority over the sarkari babus of Delhi.

However, a week later, the central government, through its National Capital Cadre Services Authority (NCCSA) Ordinance, took away those complete rights from the elected government of Delhi. The provisions of the NCCSA again empowered the Delhi LG to become “the boss” of the Services Department. This essentially meant that the elected government of Delhi would not have complete control over the transfer and posting of the officials working under them.

Akhilesh sides with Kejriwal, SP to oppose Delhi Services Bill

Continuing his Opposition outreach program, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal along with his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann met Akhilesh Yadav at Samajwadi Party HQ in Lucknow on Wednesday noon.

Soon after the meeting, the trio held a presser where Akhilesh Yadav pledged support for the AAP.

SP Chief Yadav said, “The Delhi (Services) Ordinance is anti-democratic…Samajwadi Party is standing with the AAP in this fight.”

He further added, “BJP is unable to tolerate the good work being done by you (AAP) in the Health & Education Sector”.

Yadav announced that all its MPs would support AAP in Parliament. Notably, the Samajwadi Party has 3+1 Rajya Sabha members.

While the BJP enjoys a brute majority in the Lok Sabha, Kejriwal hopes if all the opposition parties come together and oppose the NCCSA — as and when it is tabled — the Bill and the BJP can be defeated in the Rajya Sabha.

10 opposition parties including TMC, DMK standing with AAP

Kejriwal’s AAP is fighting a three-pronged battle against the Centre’s Ordinance — the legal battle in the Supreme Court, the street battle, and building a strong parliamentary strategy.

While the Delhi government is set to challenge the legality of the NCCSA Ordinance in the Supreme Court when the court’s vacations are over, the AAP has prepared the ground for a mega rally in Ramlila ground on June 11.

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And for the parliamentary strategy, Kejriwal and Mann are reaching out to the opposition parties.

“The BJP doesn’t have majority in the Rajya Sabha,” Kejriwal has been saying this line each time he has met any opposition party head or non-NDA chief ministers in the past month. The BJP has nearly 91 Rajya Sabha MPs.

The AAP chief has already declared the campaign of defeating the NCCSA in Rajya Sabha as the semi-final for the 2024 battle.

“If this Bill is defeated in the Rajya Sabha, a message will go across the country that Modi government is not returning to power in 2024,” Kejriwal reiterated on Wednesday in Lucknow.

So far, Arvind Kejriwal has got support from 10 opposition parties, including TMC, DMK, Shiv Sena (Uddhav), JDU, RJD, JMM, and SP.

This means the AAP could get support from a range of Rajya Sabha MPs, spread across several states. Here is a closer look of the 10 opposition parties which has so far supported the AAP’s outreach campaign:

While Kejriwal could rely on RLD (1) and CPI (2), the AAP has 10 members in Rajya Sabha as well. If these numbers are put together, AAP could bring nearly 71 MPs against the Centre’s Delhi Bill.

However, to defeat the bill, it would still need the Congress on its side.

Congress keeps Kejriwal waiting

On May 26, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal reached out to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party president Rahul Gandhi to seek their support against the Delhi Services Ordinance.

However, the AAP is yet to get a green signal from the grand-old-party. As per reports, it has already consulted its state unit over the issue, but Congress hasn’t disclosed its cards yet.

While one can argue that Kejriwal has achieved a condemnable feat by bringing an array of Opposition parties together over the Delhi Ordinance issue, these attempts would prove futile if it fails to bring the Congress on board.

The INC has 31 Rajya Sabha MPs. If they support Kejriwal’s party, the NCCSA could be blocked in the Upper House. But the picture about the Congress’ stance would become clear as and when Kharge-Gandhi agrees to give Kejriwal an audience.

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