The Congress on Sunday said that it will oppose the Centre’s ordinance on the control of administrative services in the national capital, PTI reported. The decision came a day before the second meeting of Opposition parties to plan a joint strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections is scheduled to take place in Bengaluru.

The Centre had promulgated the ordinance on May 19 to create the National Capital Civil Service Authority in order to administer the transfer and posting of bureaucrats serving the Delhi government. The ordinance nullified a Supreme Court verdict passed on May 11 stating that the Aam Aadmi Party government in the national capital has legislative power over bureaucrats in all departments other than public order, police and land.

In June, the Aam Aadmi Party had said that it would be difficult for it to be part of the Opposition alliance if the Congress would refuse to denounce the Centre’s ordinance.

On Sunday, Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal said that his party has consistently opposed any attempts of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government to sabotage federalism.

“We are consistently opposing the attitude of the central government to run the opposition states through the governors,” Venugopal told PTI. “Our stand is very clear, we are not going to support the Delhi ordinance.”

Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said that the decision to oppose the Centre’s ordinance was taken during at a parliamentary strategy group meeting of the party on Saturday.

“Since 2014, the BJP has been attacking our country’s federal system,” Khera told ANI. “Whether it’s in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal or Delhi, the Congress party has steadfastly opposed any such attempt...”

Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party MP Raghav Chadda welcomed the stand of the Congress on the ordinance and said that his party will now join the meeting of Opposition parties in Bengaluru on July 17.

Prior to the Congress, several other Opposition parties had also offered support to the Aam Aadmi Party against the Centre’s ordinance. These include the Samajwadi Party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Trinamool Congress, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Bharat Rashtra Samithi, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), Nationalist Congress Party and Janata Dal (United).