Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said the Delhi assembly election results would not have any bearing on the government's determination to go ahead with its economic reforms.
"I think the government is determined to go ahead on the path of economic reforms. We believe that the kind of reforms we have undertaken are certainly going to bring in investment, generate jobs, improve the quality of life of people and also help us in alleviating poverty levels," Jaitley said, while speaking at the US-India Economic and Financial Partnership Dialogue.
US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew was also present at the occasion.
"It's only [economic reforms] that will give the strength to the Indian economy to being in a position to expand a large number of our poverty alleviation programmes and social schemes. Therefore, the fact that four elections have been won and one has not been won is absolutely no ground for believing that there would be any slowdown on the path on which we have undertaken," Jaitley added.
In an unprecedented first for the national capital, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party received 67 seats out of the 70 on offer in the Delhi polls. With this extraordinary mandate, the AAP has become the first non-Congress and non-BJP party to rule the city.
The Congress, which in power in Delhi for 15 years up to 2013 and had been trying to rebuild its lost ground in the city, failed to even open its account in the polls.
The BJP, which was relying heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity and had brought in former IPS officer Kiran Bedi as its chief ministerial candidate to counter Kejriwal, also managed to secure just three seats.
