Arvind Kejriwal seeks time to meet Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge for support over ordinance

NEW DELHI: As part of his ongoing drive to reach out to opposition parties to garner support against the Centre's ordinance on control of services, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday sought time to meet Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi.
Top Congress sources said that the issue will be discussed in the party and decided. However, it was hard to miss the stiff resistance within the party leadership to the idea with senior Congress members like Sandeep Dikshit, Ajay Maken and Punjab's leader of the opposition in the assembly Pratap Singh Bajwa among others launching a sharp attack on Kejriwal. A meeting is likely in the coming days.
They recalled through videos and commentary on social media, Kejriwal's derisive comments about Rahul Gandhi and the Congress leadership to dissuade the party from meeting him, while also mocking the AAP leader for being opportunistic in seeking help of a rival he has slammed in the past.
On Friday, Kejriwal posted a tweet announcing that he had sought time to meet Congress president and Rahul Gandhi "to seek Congress support in Parliament against undemocratic and unconstitutional ordinance passed by BJP government and also to discuss general assault on the federal structure and prevailing political situation."
Under pressure from leaders of Delhi and Punjab units, Congress had earlier this week clarified that unlike other allies like JD(U), it had not taken a decision on opposing the ordinance, and will consult the party's state units before taking a final view on the issue. It remains to be seen how the Congress responds to Kejriwal's request for a meeting.
Former Lok sabha MP from Delhi and senior Congressman, Sandeep Dikshit in a tweet alleged that "Kejriwal is an old hand at deceit, lies and fraud - for his selfish interest he will go down to unbelievable levels, sleep with anyone, and stab the same people once his self interest is fulfilled."
Former Union minister who has also held the post of Delhi Congress chief in the past, senior Congress member Ajay Maken in a tweet pinned to his profile earlier this week said that Kejriwal's "past political engagements raise some questions." "His party, along with the BJP, passed a resolution requesting the union government to withdraw Bharat Ratna from our beloved Rajiv Ji. His party also opposed the opposition's candidate for the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson and instead supported the BJP-sponsored candidate," Maken alleged giving many more examples.
Calling AAP the B team of the BJP, leader of opposition in Punjab, Pratap Singh Bajwa in a tweet came out strongly to say that AAP deserves no support or sympathy from the Congress and appealed to the INC high command to consult the leadership of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Karnataka before even considering helping AAP.
Meanwhile, after finding support from Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, West Bengal CM Mamata Bannerjee, Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Uddhav Thackeray and NCP chief Sharad Pawar over the course of the week, Kejriwal will be meeting Telangana CM K Chandrashekhar Rao on Saturday.