After weeks of dithering, the Congress on Sunday came out in support of the Aam Aadmi Party's campaign against the contentious central order that wrested back control of Delhi's bureaucracy, boosting the prospects of an opposition meeting set to be held a day later.
"I think they (AAP) are going to join the meeting tomorrow. As for the ordinance (on control of services in Delhi), our stand is very clear. We are not going to support it," Congress general secretary KC Venugopal told news agency PTI, days after the AAP said it won't join any such meeting till the Congress backs its stand on the Delhi ordinance.
The AAP's top leaders, including Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, were set to convene Sunday to deliberate their course of action regarding participation in the two-day opposition gathering in Bengaluru.
Following the first opposition conclave in Patna on June 23 - a meet-and-greet for the country's splintered opposition parties to try and rally together against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP in next year's national elections - the AAP had sharply criticised the Congress.
"The Congress' hesitation and refusal to act as a team player will make it very difficult for the AAP to be a part of any alliance that includes the Congress," a statement from the party read.
The central government's move on May 19, to issue the controversial ordinance, has been described as a "deception" by the AAP government, a way to bypass a Supreme Court verdict which gave it the control of the capital's bureaucrats.
After a marathon outreach by Delhi Chief Minister and AAP boss Arvind Kejriwal, nearly all opposition parties, except the Congress, had pledged to help his party block the move in the upper house of parliament.
With the Congress's Delhi unit strongly against the party backing the AAP, the Congress softened its stance only on Saturday, stating its commitment to oppose any affronts to the constitutional rights of state governments. However, there was no direct reference to the Delhi ordinance.
The party's top leadership, including parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi, discussed these matters during a parliamentary strategy group meeting in preparation for the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament, Jairam Ramesh, Congress general secretary in charge of communications, said.
The meeting in Bengaluru is expected to bring together leaders from 24 non-BJP parties, providing a platform to strategize for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Sonia Gandhi is also expected to join the gathering this time, which is seen as an attempt to expand the opposition alliance that currently consists of around 150 Lok Sabha members.
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