Ready for fresh elections, says Kejriwal
New Delhi: President’s Rule appeared imminent in Delhi as both the BJP and Aam Aadmi Party stuck to their ground of not forming a government and preferring fresh elections instead.
BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Harsh Vardhan reiterated his party’s stand on the issue on Wednesday, saying it does not have the required numbers to form the government while AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal declared that his party would prefer to face fresh polls.
Meanwhile, Lt Governor Najeeb Jung continued consultations with experts to explore next course of action.
Sources said in the wake of the publicly stated position of both BJP and AAP, the Lt Governor was considering “all options”.
It is learnt that Jung was also considering sending a report to the Home Ministry before inviting any party to form the government. BJP, along with its ally Akali Dal’s one seat, has 32 MLAs in the 70-member House while AAP has got 28 seats followed by Congress’ eight.
JD-U has won one seat while the Mundka seat has gone to an Independent.
In a meeting on Tuesday, senior leaders in BJP told its 31 newly-elected MLAs to get ready for election in next few months.
“We don’t have the numbers to form a stable government. So we are firm in our decision,” Vardhan said.
The Election Commission had notified results on Tueday of the Assembly polls in Delhi, paving the way for start of the formal process of government formation by the Lt Governor.
If President’s Rule is imposed, then the Lt Governor will run the government with the help of a group of advisors.
Kejriwal chided the BJP for not forming a government despite being the largest party in the Delhi assembly.
Addressing a public meeting here, Kejriwal said the AAP website would be opened for donations for the next assembly polls in Delhi.
Other AAP leaders expressed confidence about the party performing well in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
The party won 28 of 70 seats in Delhi in its debut elections.
“We will contest the Lok Sabha elections from Kashmir to Kanya Kumari. People from other states are expressing hope of our performing strongly as we did in Delhi,” said Manish Sisodia, the newly-elected legislator from Patparganj.
“We can make our ‘Yuva Hridya Samrat’ contest against Yuvraj,” he said, indicating that party’s youth leader Kumar Vishwas could be pitted against Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha polls.
Kumar Vishwas hoped that the AAP will, in six months, be in a position to bring the Lokpal bill in parliament which activist Anna Hazare wants to be passed and implemented.
Kejriwal said he will visit Ralegan Siddhi in Maharashtra Thursday to extend support to Hazare in his hunger strike over the Lokpal bill.
He said if the BJP fails to form a government despite having 31 seats, people should regard it as a failure and not support it any further.
“We are prepared to fight the elections again,” Kejriwal said.
He said the BJP and Congress should form a government as they had the numbers to notch up a majority in the Delhi assembly. The Congress has won eight seats in Delhi assembly.
“The BJP and Congress are two sides of the same coin. They have got seats and should jointly form a government,” he said.
He said members who feel suffocated in the Congress and the BJP can join the AAP.
Apart from Kejriwal, the public meeting at Jantar Mantar in central Delhi was attended by other party leaders, including the newly-elected legislators.
Hundreds of AAP supporters gathered at Jantar Mantar, with many of them carrying the national flag. Some were dancing to express their happiness on the party’s showing in the Delhi polls.
Meanwhile, President Pranab Mukherjee asked Jung about the process of government formation in Delhi.
Official sources said Mukherjee asked Jung about how he was proceeding on the issue amid speculation that Delhi will be put under President’s Rule and fresh elections will be announced. (PTI)
