KCR extends support to Kejriwal, to fight against Ordinance usurping powers of Delhi Govt

HYDERABAD: Telangana Chief Minister and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) president K Chandrashekar Rao demanded on Friday that the Centre withdraw the Delhi ordinances, extending his complete support to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

"I demand that Prime Minister Narendra Modi withdraw the Ordinance unilaterally, since it appears like an ‘Emergency’ that BJP opposed, which is highly undemocratic and must be withdrawn," KCR said at a joint press conference with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. "Otherwise, we stand with Arvind Kejriwal to fight this in the Parliament."

Accusing Prime Minister Modi of bringing back the pre-emergency situation, KCR said, "You are bringing back the emergency." There was a similar situation in the country before the emergency was imposed. The Allahabad High Court gave a judgement, and then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had brought an ordinance for a Constitutional amendment. You are on a similar path. BJP leaders keep screaming about ‘dark days of emergency’, What is this, then? Is this 'acche din'? It's worse than an emergency," KCR said.

While assuring Arvind Kejriwal of his complete support, Telangana Chief Minister said, "I appeal to Prime Minister Modi to take back the ordinance, like he took back the three farm laws, and the land acquisition law. If not, we will work together and fight against this. We back Arvind Kejriwal in his fight against the BJP government over an ordinance that takes away the power from the Delhi government. We will use all our strength in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to defeat the ordinance."

The Telangana Chief Minister said, "The Centre has caused a lot of problems for our country and is not allowing a popularly elected government to function. The BJP administration intends to financially control us, probe us with the help of CBI/ED, and plant many challenges in non-BJP states, preventing us from functioning effectively, and the entire world is watching."

Speaking to the media along with two AAP Chief Ministers, KCR said, "We recently witnessed two issues in Delhi. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is a hugely popular political party in Delhi, having won the popular vote three times. We just witnessed an unprecedented situation in which they won municipal elections but the BJP government created obstacles and refused to let the City Mayor take the oath of office freely. The BJP intends to halt development projects in non-BJP states. Is this acceptable in a democratic society?"

Chief Minister KCR slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for turning down the Supreme Court verdict saying, "The Prime Minister does not even accept the Supreme Court of India’s ruling, which was delivered by a five-judge court led by the Chief Justice and said unequivocally that officials must work under a popularly elected government.

“The Modi government has insulted the people of Delhi by bringing in the ordinance. I can say without an iota of doubt it is an insult to the Delhi state people," KCR said.

Earlier in the day, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister landed at Begumpet airport in a chartered plane and drove straight to Grand Kakatiya hotel. Later, they went to Pragathi Bhavan. The Telangana Chief Minister hosted lunch to the two visitng dignitaries, who came to seek the support of KCR against the ordinance, and their delegation.