Congress To Oppose Delhi Ordinance By Centre As 'Attack On Federalism'

New Delhi: The Congress has decided to oppose the Centre’s ordinance on the control of services in Delhi as an attack on federalism.

The decision, taken at the parliamentary party meeting of the Congress on Saturday, is a face-saver for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to attend the second critical mega meeting of the opposition, to be held on July 17 and 18 in Bengaluru.

Kejriwal, the national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is relying on support against the controversial ordinance in the Rajya Sabha to defeat it. The Delhi chief minister has earlier said that the AAP has received an invitation to the Bengaluru meeting, but he was waiting for the Congress to clarify its stand on the ordinance.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Bannerjee has said that she will not attend the dinner, to be hosted by Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, that will kick-off the opposition meeting. However, she would attend the meeting thereafter, she said.

The parliamentary group meeting of the Congress, chaired by Sonia Gandhi at her residence in the national capital, was held to formulate the strategy for the monsoon session of Parliament beginning on July 20.

The Congress meeting also discussed the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) the government is threatening to bring in this monsoon session. However, the UCC does not figure among the 21 bills listed by the government for the monsoon session.

Top lawyers in the party have suggested that the party should wait for the draft of the UCC bill to firm up view on it.

The UCC is not about black and white but involves a plural Indian society, diverse cultural identities, notions of justice, inclusiveness, freedom of choice and, most importantly, a broad internal consensus within the country, Congress leaders said. It has been already discussed informally on July 1 earlier by the senior lawyers in the party, which agreed with senior advocate and Rajya Sabha member and decided to “wait for the draft”.

The bills listed for the monsoon session include the contentious Delhi ordinance, personal data protection, amendment of forest conservations laws, censor certificate, film piracy, Jan Vishwas Bill, the multi-state cooperative societies (amendment) bill, and the drugs, medical devices and cosmetic bill.