Niti Aayog meet: Four CMs urge PM Narendra Modi to resolve Delhi crisis
The open support of the regional parties to Kejriwal is being seen as an effort by the opposition to cobble up grand coalition ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections
Coming to the aid of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, four chief ministers of the non-BJP ruled states of West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala on Sunday referred his ongoing tussle with the Delhi Lt-Governor as a "constitutional crisis" and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene and resolve it at the earliest.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Andhra Pradesh's Chandrababu Naidu, Kerala's Pinarayi Vijayan, and Karnataka's HD Kumaraswamy met PM Modi on the sidelines of the NITI Aayog meeting and requested him to resolve the crisis to maintain the "federal structure of the Constitution".
"I along with the Hon'ble CMs of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala have requested Hon'ble PM today to resolve the problems of Delhi government immediately (sic)," Banerjee tweeted after meeting with Modi.
After being denied a meeting with protesting Kejriwal by the L-G's office on Saturday evening despite seeking permission vide a letter addressed to the L-G, the four chief ministers had thrown their weight behind Delhi CM announcing that they would raise the issue with PM Modi.
Besides the four chief ministers, Kejriwal also got support from BJP's ally in Maharashtra Shiv Sena and DMK in Tamil Nadu. Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said despite having differences with AAP they are of the firm view that the bureaucrats should not be given a free hand as it would be detrimental for the democracy. DMK leader MK Stalin blamed the BJP for attacking the federal structure of the nation.
The open support of the regional parties to Kejriwal is being seen as an effort by the opposition to cobble up grand coalition ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections to take on the BJP's might. The Chief ministers of Congress-led governments from Punjab and Puducherry, however, remained a bystander on the issue as their party is in direct conflict with the AAP in Delhi.
POSSIBLE REASON
The open support of the regional parties to Kejriwal is being seen as an effort by the opposition to cobble up grand coalition ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.