NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday targeted the Centre over the Delhi services bill passed by Parliament and said the people of the national capital will give a “befitting reply” to the BJP in the upcoming elections.
AAP chief national spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said the entire opposition “unitedly opposed” the bill. Party Delhi convener Gopal Rai said the bill is an “insult” to the people of Delhi.
“The entire opposition unitedly opposed the unconstitutional bill yesterday. We are fighting the battle in Parliament and the court. The people of Delhi will give them (BJP) a befitting reply in the next elections,” Kakkar said.
The Parliament on Monday passed the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023, which gives the central government control over bureaucrats in the Delhi government. Rai alleged that the bill was introduced in Parliament by the Central Government against the decision of the Supreme Court and called it a “murder of democracy”.
“The bill brought in Parliament by the Central government against the historic decision of the Supreme Court is nothing but murder of democracy. This is an insult to the people of Delhi. The people of Delhi and history will not forgive the BJP. The public will answer this in the Lok Sabha elections 2024,” he said in a tweet.
AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Gupta termed the passing of the bill in Parliament as a “black day in democracy” and said the people of Delhi “will reject the BJP” in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
“August 7 will be known as a ‘black day’ in Delhi’s history. The people of Delhi had rejected BJP before and they will again give a befitting reply to it in the upcoming elections,” Gupta said. AAP MP Sanjay Singh alleged that the digital voting system inside Parliament was damaged and there was “no counting agent” during the passage of the bill.
“For the first time, I am seeing that in Modi ji’s Digital India, the digital voting system got damaged inside Parliament itself. Voting was done by slip. There was no counting agent. Don’t know who voted for whom. Scams happening inside Parliament,” Singh alleged.
The bill, passed by Parliament, replaces an ordinance promulgated by the Centre for handling the transfers and postings of officials in the Delhi government. Meanwhile, the AAP has defended its MP Raghav Chadha after the BJP accused him of forging the signatures of five MPs in a motion related to the Delhi services bill.
