Congress leaders from Delhi and Punjab met the party leadership here on Monday and suggested not to support the Aam Aadmi Party on the Delhi Services Ordinance issue, sources said.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has called separate meetings of leaders from both the states to ascertain their views on the matter. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi was also present at the meeting.
Sources said most leaders told the leadership to have no truck with Arvind Kejriwal, calling him the BJP’s “B-team” and claiming that he has damaged Congress interests not only in Delhi and Punjab but also in other states.
About 7-8 senior leaders from Delhi Congress attended the meeting, they said. “All leaders have made it clear that AAP should not be supported on the ordinance issue, but the final call is on the high command. However, the Congress in Delhi is looking at the issue of the ordinance as a matter of the state government and not as a matter of any individual or as a matter of supporting AAP,”.
The meeting comes after Kejriwal sought a meeting with Kharg and Gandhi to seek their support against an order issued by the Center that effectively overturned a Supreme Court order that gave the Delhi government the power to transfer bureaucrats in the city.
Kharge reportedly told Kejriwal that he would take a call on the matter after talking to state party leaders. Sources said the Congress leadership will also meet party leaders from other states before deciding on its stand.
Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring told reporters after the meeting that they had conveyed their views to the party high command and left the final decision to him.
“All the leaders said that it will be decided by the party high command and we have left the final decision to party chief Mallikarjun Kharge,” Raja Warring told reporters after the meeting.
Former party chief Navjot Sidhu said what happened during the meeting was a secret and only the Congress chief or Rahul Gandhi would divulge the details. However, he said that the Constitution of India was a sacred “grant” and he took inspiration from it.
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