Kejriwal seeks KCR's support to unite opposition against Centre's ordinance

Hyderabad: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Aam Aadmi Party convener, will ask BRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao to support his effort to unite the Opposition against the Centre's recent ordinance on control of administrative services in the national capital, on Saturday.

Kejriwal announced the meeting in a Tweet on Friday. Kejriwal also said he would be boycotting the Niti Aayog council meeting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has convened with Chief Ministers in Delhi on Saturday, alleging that “cooperative federalism” in the country was being turned into a joke.

Rao has already decided against going to the Niti Aayog meeting.

The united Opposition effort is to stall parliamentary clearance for the ordinance, which overturns a Supreme Court judgment on the matter. Telangana has seven members in the Rajya Sabha, all of them from the BRS.

Kejriwal for the past few days has been meeting leaders of non-BJP parties seeking their support to defeat the Bill, including NCP chief Sharad Pawar, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray. He has also sought an appointment with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi.

The Supreme Court on May 11 gave elected arm of government in Delhi, executive power including transfer and postings of officers, that was earlier the Lt Governor's domain.

On Friday last, the Centre promulgated an ordinance to create an authority for the transfer and posting of Group-A officers in Delhi. The AAP government says the ordnance overturns the Supreme Court verdict. The Centre needs to get the ordinance approved by Parliament.