Ordinance Row: Kejriwal meets NCP chief Sharad Pawar in Mumbai

Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of Delhi and the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), visited the Yashwantrao Chavan Centre in Mumbai to meet with Sharad Pawar, the chief of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Thursday. The purpose of the meeting was to seek the NCP’s support against the central government’s ordinance regarding the control of administrative services in Delhi.

Accompanying Kejriwal were Bhagwant Mann, the Chief Minister of Punjab, Raghav Chadha, an AAP Member of Parliament, Atishi, a minister from Delhi, and other party leaders. Prior to this meeting, Kejriwal had also met with Uddhav Thackeray, the leader of the Shiv Sena (UBT), on Wednesday.

Kejriwal commenced a nationwide tour on Tuesday to garner support from opposition parties against the ordinance introduced by the central government, which pertains to the transfers and postings of bureaucrats in the national capital. The AAP national convenor accused the central government of encroaching upon the rights of the people of Delhi and expressed his belief that the ordinance should not be allowed to pass in the Rajya Sabha.This comes after the Union Government on May 19 brought an ordinance to notify rules for the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) regarding the ‘transfer posting, vigilance and other incidental matters’.The ordinance was brought to amend the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991 and it circumvents the Supreme Court judgement in the Centre vs Delhi case.Earlier, CM Kejriwal met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata on Tuesday and sought her support against the ordinance.