NEW DELHI: Taking a jibe at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal amid the row over the Centre's ordinance on control of administrative services in the national capital, Delhi Congress president Anil Chaudhary on Saturday said that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor should realise his "mistake of praising" the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) earlier. His remarks came in the wake of the Delhi Chief Minister seeking time from Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former MP Rahul Gandhi demanding support against the Centre's ordinance on control of administrative services in the national capital.
Speaking to ANI, Anil Chaudhary said, "Congress high command will take a decision on whether they will meet Arvind Kejriwal or not. When all opposition parties were together, he kept praising BJP. Arvind Kejriwal should realise his mistake." The Delhi Chief Minister on May 23 embarked on a nationwide tour to seek support from the Opposition parties against the ordinance brought by the central government on the transfers and postings of bureaucrats in the national capital.
So far, Kejriwal has met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav. He will also be meeting Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Saturday to seek his party Bharat Rashtra Samithi's (BRS) support against the ordinance.
Kejriwal also informed that he will not be able to attend the NITI Aayog meeting to be held on Saturday in the national capital. 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 ordinance was brought to amend the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991 and it circumvents the Supreme Court judgement in the Centre vs Delhi case.