New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann arrived in Mumbai on Tuesday evening to meet Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) head Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray. Kejriwal, Mann and other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders will meet Thackeray on Wednesday at the latter's residence around noon. On Thursday, they will meet Pawar in the afternoon at Yashwantrao Chavan Centre located opposite the state administrative headquarters. 


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Earlier on Tuesday, Kejriwal and Mann met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata as part of their nationwide tour to garner support for the AAP's fight against the Centre's ordinance on control of services in Delhi. The AAP leaders held a nearly hour-long meeting with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo at the state secretariat.


After the meeting, the Delhi chief minister told newspersons that a forthcoming vote in Rajya Sabha on a bill to convert the central ordinance into law will be a 'semi-final' before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He also alleged the saffron party 'buys MLAs, uses CBI, ED to try to break' opposition governments, besides using Governors to disturb non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments such as in 'Bengal, Punjab, Telangana and Andhra'.


"BJP has made a mockery of democracy," Arvind Kejriwal said.


Mamata Banerjee told reporters that the TMC supports AAP in the fight against the Central ordinance.


"It is a grand opportunity to defeat BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in the Rajya Sabha as all the opposition parties are united on the issue of the ordinance," she added.


The Bengal CM also quipped that the double engine (BJP's government in both state and centre) has become a 'troubled engine'.


 


Why AAP and Centre are at loggerheads over new ordinance?


The bone of contention between the AAP government and the ruling BJP has been the Central government ordinance setting up a National Capital Civil Service Authority which overturned a Supreme Court order last week giving control of services, excluding those related to police, public order and land, to the elected government in Delhi. The new ordinance takes away these powers from the Delhi state government and gives them to a committee which would be effectively controlled by the Centre.


A central law has to be brought to replace the ordinance and opposition parties are hoping to stall that in the upper house or Rajya Sabha when it comes up for debate.


The ordinance has to be ratified by Parliament within six months. For which, the Centre will have to bring a bill for its passage in both Houses of Parliament, the opposition hopes.


It is notable that none of the chief ministers mentioned the Congress party in connection with the unity they were trying to forge over the ordinance. The largest opposition party has, as yet, not made clear its position on the ordinance, though senior Congress leader from Delhi Ajay Maken on Tuesday strongly opposed extending any support to Arvind Kejriwal on the issue of the Centre's ordinance on the administration of services in the national capital.


Kejriwal has earlier met Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over the ordinance issue following which the latter extended full support to AAP in its tussle with the Centre on the matter.


(With inputs from agencies)