Divide in Congress over Delhi Service Ordinance

New Delhi: The Congress appears divided on the Delhi Services Ordinance issue after former finance minister P Chidambaram termed it wrong days after his party colleague Ajay Maken justified the BJP-led central government’s move.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi met party leaders from Punjab and Delhi to elicit their views on whether to support the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government on the Ordinance matter.  

The meeting came in the wake of Delhi chief minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal seeking an appointment with Kharge and Rahul Gandhi to seek the Congress party’s support on the Ordinance brought by the Centre which effectively nullified a Supreme Court order that gave to the Delhi government the power to transfer bureaucrats in the city-state.

The Congress leaders from Punjab and Delhi, where the AAP dethroned the grand old party, vehemently opposed doing any business with Kejriwal. They argued that the AAP had severely hurt the prospects of Congress wherever it contested the elections.

Addressing a press conference in Mumbai on Monday, Chidambaram said the Centre’s ordinance is wrong. “It is not a question of supporting Kejriwal or not supporting Kejriwal. Despite the two judgements, they now put power in the hands of the L-G. Whether it is legal or not, I have a view and the matter will go to the Supreme Court. On this issue, I am very clear that the ordinance is wrong, the ordinance is bad. But what stand Congress will take in Parliament when the ordinance comes up for discussion, I cannot answer that. Only Mr Kharge and the leadership can answer that,” he said.

Incidentally, Chidambaram had in 2018 appeared for the Delhi government before the Supreme Court Constitution bench, which had ruled in favour of the Kejriwal dispensation stating that the Delhi Lieutenant-Governor was bound by the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers.  

Days before Chidambaram’s remarks, Maken cited reasons why the Congress should not support Kejriwal in view of his past political engagements.

“First, by backing Kejriwal, we are going against the decisions and wisdom of numerous respected leaders: Baba Sahib Ambedkar on 21st October 1947, Pandit Nehru and Sardar Patel in 1951, another decision of Pt Nehru in 1956, Lal Bahadur Shastri Ji as Home Minister in 1964 and as Prime Minister in 1965, and Sh. Narasimha Rao in 1991,” Maken said on Twitter.

“Kejriwal seeks the support of the Congress party. However, his past political engagements raise some questions. His party, along with the BJP, passed a resolution requesting the Union Government to withdraw Bharat Ratna from our beloved former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi,” he wrote.

Ironically, it was Maken who had forcefully supported a tie-up with the AAP in Delhi for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He had criticised former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, who then headed the party’s city unit, for opposing any such move.

Five years later, Maken questioned Kejriwal’s “support” to the BJP in Gujarat, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Assam and Uttarakhand, asking why the AAP fields candidates in states where the Congress is the primary opposition or the ruling party.

That said, it remains a mere formality for Congress to announce its official stand on the Ordinance issue.