Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal received support from Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren in opposing the Centre’s ordinance on control of administrative services in Delhi after a nearly two-hour-long meeting in Ranchi on Friday.

Soren, while assuring support to the AAP, lashed out at the Centre and called the ordinance an “attack” on the “federal system of the country”.

“This ordinance is an attack on the federal system of the country as well as the idea of unity in diversity. The central government talks about federal structure but acts in just the opposite manner. It is clear today that parties that are not the allies of the BJP are facing almost the same situation,” Soren said while speaking to reporters jointly addressed by Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann.

Soren added: “We will have a deep discussion on the issue within the party as well and will work on how to proceed against this (ordinance) democratically. They (AAP) have raised voices against the ordinance and I hope that they succeed in their movement.”

The Union government on May 19 brought an ordinance to notify rules for the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi regarding the transfer posting, vigilance and other incidental matters.

The ordinance was brought to amend the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991 and it circumvents the Supreme Court judgement in the Centre vs Delhi case.

After this move by the Centre, Kejriwal had on May 23 embarked on a nationwide tour to seek support from the Opposition parties against the ordinance.

The AAP national convener has so far met Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Tamil Nadu chief minister. M.K. Stalin former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav.

Arvind Kejriwal, outlining the purpose of his visit, said: “Last month, a grave injustice was done to the people of Delhi. In fact, their democratic rights were snatched. In a landmark judgment on May 11, the Supreme Court ordered that the government elected by the people of Delhi will have the powers. But unfortunately, on May 19 the government circumvented the order by bringing the ordinance. The Modi government said that they won’t allow the elected government to function”.

“The ordinance will now go to the Parliament. BJP has the majority in Lok Sabha but in Rajya Sabha, it only has 93 out of 238 members. So, if all the non-BJP parties come together, this bill can be defeated,” he added.

“This is not just a matter of Delhi, but of the whole country. They (BJP) can bring a similar ordinance for Punjab, Rajasthan, Jharkhand or Tamil Nadu. This is tampering with the Constitution to seize the powers of the elected government and everyone should come up against it. We are going across the country and we have received good cooperation from all parties,” he said.