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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to accept an invite from Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Najeeb Jung to form the government in Delhi. It is an offer the party had spurned 10-months back saying that it didn’t have the mandate. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which had then formed the government, as well as the Congress, on Friday termed the development as an effort to put in place a government through the backdoor.
Jung has sent a report to President Pranab Mukherjee seeking permission to invite the single largest party in Delhi to make an attempt to form a government. The state has been without an elected government ever since AAP quit on February 17 after a 49-day stint at the Delhi secretariat. It had formed the government with outside support of the Congress.
No party had won a majority in the 70-member Assembly in the December polls. BJP emerged as the single largest party with 31 seats and its ally Shiromani Akali Dal winning one seat. AAP won 28 while the Congress had eight seats to its name. There were two independents. The situation has changed since with three of BJP’s MLAs having been elected to the Lok Sabha, while AAP has expelled one of its MLAs.
The Lt Governor in his report provided a detailed analysis of the political situation in Delhi and stressed the need for the city to have an elected government. Delhi has been under President’s rule since AAP government resigned. Jung said no party has claimed to form the government, and that BJP could be invited since it is the single largest party. He stated all possibilities to form the government should be explored before calling for fresh elections.
Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay said his party was yet to receive an invite from the Lt Governor, but would “critically analyse” such an offer. Nearly all of the BJP MLAs, as also many in AAP, are not in favour of facing another election. BJP MLAs have informed the party leadership about their unwillingness to face a third election, along with Lok Sabha polls, in less than year.
BJP, along with its ally SAD, currently has 29 MLAs. The majority mark in the 67-member Assembly is 34, after three BJP MLAs quit to become MPs. BJP needs the support of five more MLAs to reach majority mark. It is expected that expelled AAP MLA Vinod Kumar Binny and an independents MLA could support the party.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said his party, BJP, will take a decision on the issue soon. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, the election incharge of party affairs in Delhi, met Singh at the latter’s North Block office. Gadkari asserted BJP will not indulge in horse trading.
The Delhi unit of Congress questioned the Lt Governor’s move. Spokesperson Mukesh Sharma said BJP has already once refused the opportunity to form a government. “Lt Governor Najeeb Jung is taking dictations from the home minister,” Sharma said.
AAP leaders Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Yogendra Yadav also questioned the Lt Governor’s move. Kejriwal tweeted that Jung was trying to get a government in place through the backdoor.
