Another Show Of Opposition Unity Minus Congress

Chief Ministers disgruntled with the Centre in general and Narendra Modi in particular will group in Delhi to lend support to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

After the Bengaluru photo-op of Opposition unity, the scene has shifted to Delhi. Chief Ministers disgruntled with the Centre in general and Narendra Modi in particular will group in Delhi to lend support to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Chief Ministers Mamata Banerjee, Chandrababu Naidu, HD Kumaraswamy and Pinarayi Vijayan are expected to call on Kejriwal and then jointly march to Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Anil Baijal’s office.

This time, however, the Congress is not in the picture.

Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia with ministers Satyendar Jain and Gopal Rai are on strike at the LG office in protest against Baijal’s refusal to intervene and end the ongoing strike by bureaucrats.

Earlier there was high drama as Mamata Banerjee was refused permission to meet Kejriwal. An angry Kejriwal reacted immediately and trained his guns at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He accuded the PM of “directing” the L-G to refuse the Trinamool Congress chief permission. He tweeted, “This is getting more and more bizarre…” He added, “I don’t think Hon’ble L-G can take such a decision on his own. Obviously, PMO has directed him to refuse permission. Just like IAS strike is being done at PMO’s instance.”

Earlier this week, Mamata Banerjee had extended her support to the AAP government’s dharna and appealed to the L-G and PM to “resolve the problem immediately”.