NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi rebuffed Arvind Kejriwal's fervent appeal for support over the central government's Delhi ordinance at the meeting of opposition parties in Patna on Friday, saying that the pressure on Congress to commit itself publicly to go along with AAP smacked of mischief, sources said.Sources in AAP also said the Congress leader did not agree to Kejriwal 's plea to bury the animosity and make a fresh beginning by hammering out an understanding over the ordinance by having a discussion on the sidelines of the Patna meeting.
He did not budge even when West Bengal CM suggested that the two sort out the issue "over a cup of tea".
"We have a process for taking such decisions," Rahul is said to have replied.Congress did not respond to TOI's queries till the time of going to press.Going by the account of AAP sources, Congress had, with Kejriwal having publicly declared that he would push the party to end the suspense over what stand it might take in Rajya Sabha over the ordinance, had gone into the meeting prepared to resist the Delhi CM.
Its stand became evident as soon as the Delhi CM made a passionate plea for Congress's support by saying that BJP's success in getting the ordinance passed in Rajya Sabha might spell the end of federalism and democracy.Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, AAP sources said, responded to Kejriwal by reading out from a compilation of anti-Congress statements by AAP functionaries.
Kejriwal tried to underplay the issue by saying that the AAP functionaries referred to by Congress chief were small-time party functionaries.
The Delhi CM also said that senior Congress leaders had said far more provocative things about AAP but it was time for the party to move beyond the rivalry and join hands in view of the threat of authoritarianism represented by BJP.He said AAP had not allowed political differences to come in the way over issues of national interest and emphasised that he was the first to come out and oppose Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from Parliament.Like Rahul, Kharge also expressed surprise over AAP's insistence that Congress declared its stand straightaway.
The Congress chief said such issues have always been discussed in the meetings that are held during the Parliament session and AAP, which has been attending the strategy meetings, is very well aware of that, said the sources.On Friday, after it skipped the press conference after the meeting in Patna, AAP had released a statement to say that until the Congress publicly denounces the ordinance and declares that all 31 of its RS MPs will oppose the ordinance in Rajya Sabha, it will be difficult for AAP to participate in future meetings of like-minded parties where the Congress is a participant.However, AAP sources said Kejriwal tried to pitch for a truce calling for a meeting over a cup of tea to sort things out and bury the past and try and move forward to bridge the trust deficit on both sides.