Arvind Kejriwal to Meet Sharad Pawar in Mumbai

Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal will meet Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar in Mumbai on Thursday. Kejriwal and his party comrade and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann arrived in Mumbai on Tuesday evening.

The two CMs on Wednesday met Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray at the latter’s residence in Mumbai to seek support for the AAP’s fight against the Union government’s ordinance for the control of services in Delhi. After meeting Thackeray, Kejriwal claimed the ordinance means the Narendra Modi government does not believe in the Supreme Court.

He also said state governments were being toppled by using the CBI and the ED. The Centre last Friday promulgated an ordinance to create an authority for the transfer and posting of Group-A officers in Delhi, with the AAP government calling the move a deception with the Supreme Court verdict on control of services.

The ordinance, which came a week after the Supreme Court handed over the control of services in Delhi excluding police, public order and land to the elected government, seeks to set up a National Capital Civil Service Authority for transfer of and disciplinary proceedings against Group-A officers from the DANICS cadre. Backing Kejriwal, Thackeray said the Supreme Court’s order was important for democracy.

We have come together to defeat those against democracy. If we miss the train this time, then there will be no democracy in the country. We have come together to save the country and the Constitution, Thackeray said. 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.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)