Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday termed the Central government’s ordinance on control of services in the national capital “anti-democratic” after meeting Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in Lucknow.
He assured that the SP would support the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in their struggle against the ordinance.
“The ordinance is anti-democratic. I want to assure Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Ji that the Samajwadi Party is with you and will support you,” said Mr. Yadav at the SP State headquarters in a joint press conference.
Mr. Kejriwal thanked the SP president for agreeing to support the AAP-led Delhi government’s stand over the issue. “I thank SP chief Akhilesh Yadav who has assured us that his party will support us in the Rajya Sabha,” said Mr. Kejriwal.
He added that he had a long talk with Mr. Yadav over the issue.
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“I had a long talk with Akhilesh ji. The people of Delhi did a long struggle.They elected a government and expect and hope that the elected government is free. In May, by issuing a notification, the Narendra Modi government snatched all our powers. The powers of transfer-posting and disciplinary action on officers in case they do not work properly, were snatched by the Modi government,” said the Delhi CM.
Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh accompanied Mr. Kejriwal on his Lucknow visit.
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Supporting consistently
It is not the first time the SP has come in support of the AAP, which is governing Delhi. Earlier in February, Mr. Yadav reacted sharply on the arrest of Delhi’s Deputy CM Manish Sisodia. It alleged that the action proved that the BJP government had already accepted its defeat before 2024 and hence, was implicating the Opposition political leaders in false cases.
Mr. Yadav was among the few leaders who joined the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) rally in Telangana along with Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in January. The rally was seen as a bid by Telangana CM K. Chandrashekar Rao to forge a non-BJP, non-Congress front in the run-up to the 2024 poll.
Insult to judiciary
After the Union government brought in an ordinance to amend the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) Act and formed a “National Capital Civil Service Authority”, days after the Supreme Court’s judgment granting powers to the elected government of the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, Mr. Yadav called it an insult to the judiciary.
It added that as the BJP was aware of losing all the parliamentary seats in Delhi, it was already taking revenge from the public.
