Control of services: Delhi first to be attacked, similar ordinances coming for other states, says Kejriwal

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday hit out at the Centre over its ordinance on control of services in the national capital, saying Delhi is the first to be ”attacked” and similar ordinances will also be brought for other states.

Addressing the Aam Aadmi Party’s ”Maha Rally” at the Ramlila Maidan, the party’s national convener said the Centre’s ordinance was an insult to the people of the city. The ordinance says that there will be no democracy in Delhi, he alleged.

”There will be dictatorship in Delhi and the LG (lieutenant governor) is supreme. People can vote for whoever they want, but the Centre will run Delhi,” Kejriwal said.

”I have been travelling across the country and I want to assure the people of Delhi that they are not alone. The 140 crore people of India are with them,” he said. Delhi is the ”first city to be attacked” and they will bring such ordinances for Rajasthan and other states too, the AAP leader claimed.

On the arrests of AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain, he said they were arrested in order to stop works in the national capital. ”But we have have 100 Sisodias and 100 Jains. They will continue the good work,” the chief minister said.

While former deputy chief minister Sisodia was arrested in February over alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped liquor policy for 2021-22, Jain was arrested in May last year in a money laundering case. ”I want to ask that PM (Narendra) Modi has been in power as Gujarat chief minister and then as prime minister for long, and Kejriwal has been in power for eight years, who has done more work for people,” he said. The event was also attended by Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal, who stressed on opposition unity to fight the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.