From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: ‘We all have come together to save the country and democracy,’ Thackeray said, a day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Bannerji assured Delhi chief minister Kejriwal that her Trinamul Congress will oppose the Centre’s Ordinance in the Rajya Sabha.
Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday extended his support to the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi in opposing the Centre’s ordinance giving the lieutenant governor the final say on postings and transfers of all bureaucrats in the national capital.
On May 19, the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Centre had introduced an ordinance to create the National Capital Civil Service Authority to administer the transfer and posting of bureaucrats serving the Delhi government.
The ordinance negated the May 11 Supreme Court verdict stating that the Aam Aadmi Party government in the national capital has legislative power over bureaucrats excluding the departments of public order, police and land.
Since ordinances cease to exist if they are not approved by Parliament within six weeks of reassembly, the Centre will need to introduce a bill regarding the subject in the upcoming Monsoon Session. The Aam Aadmi Party has urged the Opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha, where the BJP only has 93 seats out of the 238 elected representatives seats, to vote against the bill when it gets introduced.
A delegation of the Aam Aadmi Party led by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met with Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) party leaders in Mumbai seeking their support to vote against the ordinance.
“We all have come together to save the country and democracy,” Thackeray said in a joint press conference with Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. “I think we should not be called ‘opposition’ parties in fact they [BJP] should be called ‘opposition’ since they are against democracy and Constitution.”