New Delhi: Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal is going all out to rally opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha to vote against a bill to replace the Union government ordinance giving more administrative powers to the Lieutenant Governor’s office. Yet, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government at the Centre seems comfortably placed in terms of numbers, albeit with the support of traditionally friendly parties like the YSR Congress Party and Biju Janata Dal.
The bill is likely to be introduced in Parliament during the upcoming monsoon session.
On 19 May, the central government promulgated an ordinance, the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2023, to create a new statutory authority — the National Capital Civil Service Authority (NCCSA) — headed by the CM and two IAS officers, to decide all matters related to transfer and posting of bureaucrats in the national capital by majority of votes.
However, the ordinance — which nullifies an 11 May SC judgment giving the Delhi government greater legislative and administrative control over “services” — gives the L-G final say in the matter.
The current strength of the Rajya Sabha is 238 with seven vacant seats — four from Jammu and Kashmir, two nominated and one from West Bengal. The majority mark in the Upper House is 120.
While the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is comfortably placed in the Lok Sabha, in the Rajya Sabha it lacks a majority and relies on friendly opposition parties like YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) to sail through when some important bill comes up for voting.
Currently the NDA’s tally in the Upper House stands at 106. Of this, the BJP has 93 members, including the five nominated members who are affiliated to it — Mahesh Jethmalani, Rakesh Sinha, Sonal Mansingh, Ram Shakal and Ghulam Ali Khatana.
The remaining five nominated members — Ranjan Gogoi, Veerendra Heggade, P.T. Usha, V. Vijayendra Prasad and Ilaiyaaraja – though not affiliated to any party — are likely to support the BJP, taking the NDA’s total tally in the Upper House to 111.
As against this, the opposition numbers — barring YSRCP, BJD, BSP, TDP and Janata Dal (Secular) who together have 21 members — stands at 106. This figure is inclusive of the AAP’s 10 members in the Rajya Sabha.
The YSRCP, BJD, BSP, TDP and Janata Dal (Secular) were among the opposition parties which had not boycotted the inauguration of the new Parliament by Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday. However, as of now they have not made clear their standing on the ordinance issue, as it involves the right of the state.
If the YSR Congress and BJD — with nine members each in Rajya Sabha — go with the BJP, the NDA numbers will swell to 129, well past the majority.
In the past, YSRCP and BJD have either supported the BJP or abstained from voting, and this time too, it could play out the same way.
A senior YSRCP leader told ThePrint that a final call on who the party will support in Rajya Sabha on the ordinance has not been taken and will be decided by party president and Andhra Pradesh CM Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
“But our stand is that partial statehood is completely justified for Delhi given its special position because it is the Capital and hosts the heads of states. For diplomatic reasons and to maintain law and order, Delhi’s special status is justified. It can’t have complete statehood. We will support the BJP on this issue,” the YSRCP leader, who did not wish to be named, said.
The BJD, which has in the past supported the BJP on contentious laws such as the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, the law to criminalise triple talaq, amendments to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, has remained non-committal so far on whether it will support AAP on the L-G bill.
A senior BJD leader, who did not wish to be named, told ThePrint that it’s too early in the day to take a stand on the matter, but reiterated that the party continues to be equidistant from both the BJP and opposition groupings.
“We give issue-based support to the BJP. On the proposed bill to replace the ordinance, our party president and Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik will take a final call,” the BJD leader said.
Though the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Janata Dal (Secular), with one member each in RS, have also remained non-committal so far, they could go with the BJP or abstain. These three parties had also not joined the opposition grouping of 21 parties, who had announced the boycott of the inauguration of the new Parliament building by PM Narendra Modi Sunday.
The TDP has of late gone soft on the BJP, and it has been rumoured that the party was trying to revive its alliance with the BJP ahead of the 2024 polls. A former BJP ally, TDP walked out of the alliance in 2018, demanding special category status for Andhra Pradesh.
K. Ravindra Kumar, TDP’s Rajya Sabha MP told ThePrint, “The party leadership has not taken a call yet on this matter [of the Delhi ordinance]. We will examine the ordinance and take a stand only after that. Also, we have not been approached by either the BJP or any opposition parties for support,” Kumar said.
If all the five parties — YSRCP, BJD, BSP, TDP and JD(S) — decide to support the BJP, the NDA’s number will go up to 132.
Also Read: Centre’s Ordinance not what Kejriwal wants. But Modi govt is acting well within its rights
Opposition Parties on a weak footing?
Among the Opposition parties, so far the Trinamool Congress, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), Janata Dal (United) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have openly announced their support to the AAP against the Centre’s ordinance giving more teeth to the Delhi lieutenant governor.
While the Trinamool Congress has 12 members in the Rajya Sabha, the Shiv Sena has three, the NCP has four and JD(U) has five members. Besides the four, AAP is likely to get support from the other like-minded opposition parties such as the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), NCP, the Left parties, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), among others.
Together, the number of members from these parties, the Congress and AAP, takes the Opposition tally to 106.
However, so far, the Congress, which is the largest opposition party in Rajya Sabha with 31 members, has also remained non-committal so far on whether they will vote against the proposed bill, when it comes up in Rajya Sabha.
On 22 May, Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal tweeted that the party will consult the state units and other like-minded parties on the ordinance issue before taking a final call. The Delhi and Punjab units of the Congress are wary of aligning with AAP and have conveyed this to the party high command. Kejriwal is likely to meet Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi in the coming days to elicit the party’s support.
The opposition parties have joined hands on a number of issues recently. On Wednesday, 20 ‘like-minded’ opposition parties — including the Congress, AAP and the Trinamool Congress — announced their boycott of the inauguration of the new Parliament building.
But only if the opposition grouping manages to get the support of both BJD and YSRCP, its tally will reach 124, a little over the majority mark but that looks highly unlikely at the moment. If all opposition parties, including the YSRCP, BJD, BSP, TDP and JD(S), take a stand against the NDA on the ordinance, their number will touch 127.
Despite attempts being made by different opposition parties to cobble up a united front against the NDA in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, parties have their own interests and may not like to side with AAP in Rajya Sabha to defeat the ordinance bill.
(Edited by Anumeha Saxena)
Also Read: ‘Good chance to defeat BJP’ — Mamata stands behind Kejriwal in fight against Modi govt ordinance