AAP seeks fresh mandate in Delhi, drops idea of holding referendum

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said that the party will not be holding a referendum as the chances of forming a government in Delhi are negligible and added that the party wants fresh elections to be held in the capital.

"Last time we committed a blunder by not asking the people on whether we should resign or not, but we thought that we would not make the same mistake again, and decided to call for a referendum. But looking at the situation that has come forth, chances of forming government are negligible, and therefore we want fresh elections to be held," said Kejriwal.

 

"There is no point in holding a referendum now. We had a meeting today and we have decided that we want fresh elections and are gearing up for it. We will go to the people and ask for their support," he added.

He further said that the party had made a mistake by stepping down from the government and wanted to apologize to the people.

"People said that we are very honest, but a lot of people seem upset because of my decision of resigning from the chief ministerial post. They say that I ran way. When I resigned, I had done it on moral grounds, but people misinterpreted it," said Kejriwal.

"When we came to power, we had cut down electricity bills by 50 percent and had done a similar thing for water bills, but once we left, the situation was back to same, and people thought that I had abandoned them," he said.

"Today, I want to apologize for the mistake that we had made. Since the elections have got over, I have been going around the city, and wherever I go people are asking us to form a government, and we are gearing up for it," he added.

Yesterday, the Aam Aadmi Party had asked lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung not to dissolve the Delhi assembly, although, earlier it had gone to court asking for fresh elections in the capital, and had declared that it had no desire to take support from the Congress.

The party had also decided to hold a referendum, like it did before forming the government in Delhi five months back to ask people whether it should make a bid for forming the government or go in for fresh elections.