Kejriwal said AAP has decided to give a letter to Lt Governor Najeeb Jung expressing its readiness to form the government
Ending almost two-week-long deadlock, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Admi Party (AAP)on Monday decided to form government at Delhi by taking outside support from Congress party.
Arvind Kejriwal, who led the debutant party to a spectacular victory in the polls winning 28 seats in the 70-member assembly, will be the chief minister (CM) of Delhi if the Lt Governor allows AAP to form the government, party leader Manish Sisodia said.
The party took the decision to form the government at a meeting of political affairs committee after analysing the results of the public referendum it had carried out in the last few days on the issue.
After the two-hour-long meeting, Kejriwal said AAP has decided to give a letter to Lt Governor Najeeb Jung expressing its readiness to form the government. “We were called by the Lt Governor to discuss government formation on 14th December. We had sought time to take a decision as ours is a party of common people and we want to their views," he said.
“We got responses from the citizens through website, phone calls, SMS and by holding public meetings and most of them favoured government formation by AAP. We are now going to give the letter to LG saying that AAP is ready to form the government,” Kejriwal told reporters at AAP’s office in Kausambi.
There has been deadlock over government formation in Delhi for nearly two weeks after the announcement of the results on 8th December. AAP has 28 seats while Congress with eight has agreed to give outside support. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the single largest party with 31 seats in Delhi.
Former CM and Congress leader Sheila Dikshit welcomed AAP’s decision to form government and hoped that it will be able to fulfil the promises made to people.
However, BJP reacting sharply to the development. "AAP move to form govt with Congress support is compromise of its principles and betrayal of people’s verdict", party leader Harsh Vardhan said.
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I- AAP-rise
This refers to the article “Scaling up the AAP”(December 14/15). The message sent out by AAP from Delhi is being decifered by different people in different ways. Naturally, the responses have been diverse. From Rahul Gandhi who said ‘Congress has to learn a lot from AAP’, to N R Narayana Murthy who said ‘What Arvind(Kejriwal) has done is that he has redefined what is possible’ and added that he would still ‘Bat for Nilekani’ the politically and financially wise who responded to the AAP challenge did not leave the Aam Aadmi wiser by their responses. But their quick comments are, nevertheless, indicative of the churning Indian Political System is undergoing, post-AAP uprise.
The Indian Aam Aadmi has asserted his right to make his voice heard, thanks to the conduit provided by AAP. Let us not compel AAP to show the results they apparently promised. Now, it is the turn of the common man(Famously referred to as “WE THE PEOPLE” in the preamble of the Constitution of India) to organise, wherever they are, and force the legislators at all levels to uphold the spirit of the Constitution and bring back ethics and morality to governance.
If Aam Aadmi and the BPL(Businessmen-Politician-Lawyers) Combine which is managing the show in Delhi take the message sent out by AAP throught the medium of broomstick seriously, and act in a proactive manner, during the short period left for Elections, 2014, several stages of pre-stabilisation experiments of India Growth Story can be skipped. Here, all political parties(Right, Left and Centre) have a responsibility to participate. Time is running out.
M G WARRIER, Thiruvananthapuram
II- Dissecting AAP manifesto*
This refers to the article “Can Kejriwal’s team deliver the moon to Dehiites?”(December 23). The honest and direct answer is ‘No, not possible in the given situation’. Then, why AAP should form a government in Delhi? Because, with 30 per cent votes polled, if 30 per cent promises in the Manifesto are fulfilled, still the entire Delhi population will be better off than during the previous regimes. Changes do not come that fast. If AAP has succeeded in making the outgoing CM to demand implementation of AAP Manifesto and promises support for efforts in that direction, one feels, AAP has won half the battle.
Coming to details, Congress, of all political parties has lost its moral right to question delays in honouring commitments as the last 65 years did not see India through enforcement of important Directive Principles of State Policy enshrined in the Constitution. It would be a useful and interesting document, if the authors of this article go back to the Congress/UPA Manifestos from the first General Election to the last one and prepare a chart recording promises kept and ‘action in progress’.
M G Warrier, Thiruvananthapuram
*This is the unedited version of the letter published in Business Standard on December 25, 2013 titled 'Better option'
Kejriwal and his company are no longer Mango Men. They have become Banana Men. Usurping of power by the Congress Support is Treachery.