The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will walk out of Friday’s meeting of Opposition leaders in Patna if the Congress does not promise its support against the Centre’s ordinance on the control of administrative services in Delhi, party sources said.

The meeting of Opposition parties has been called by Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar to chalk out a joint strategy to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

“The AAP will walk out of the meeting if the Congress does not promise its support against the ordinance,” PTI quoted an AAP source as saying.

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The Centre had, on May 19, 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, sought to set up a National Capital Civil Service Authority for the transfer of and disciplinary proceedings against Group-A officers from the DANICS cadre.

Following the ordinance, Kejriwal has been reaching out to leaders of non-BJP parties to garner their support against the ordinance so that the Centre’s bid to replace it through a Bill is defeated when it is brought in Parliament.

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Kejriwal writes to Opposition leaders

The Delhi CM had asked the Opposition leaders not to think of the ordinance issue as a “Delhi-centric problem” and claimed that if not resisted, the BJP-led Centre may bring similar ordinances for other states too.

“The Centre has carried out an experiment in Delhi by bringing this ordinance. If it is successful, it will bring similar ordinances in non-BJP states and snatch away the powers with respect to subjects in the concurrent list,” Kejriwal had said in the letter dated June 20.

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“The day is not far when the prime minister will run 33 states through lieutenant governors and governors,” Kejriwal said, adding, “I request all parties to clear their stand on the ordinance in the meeting and also discuss the strategy to defeat this in parliament.”