In a bid less for government formation and more to prevent the BJP’s restless lot from having a shot at it, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, along with 24 party MLAs, met Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Najeeb Jung and demanded immediate dissolution of the Assembly and announcement of fresh polls.

The AAP and BJP have been locked in a battle of wits over the latter’s attempts at forming a government in the Capital.

The AAP has accused the BJP of “horse-trading” while a BJP MLA, RP Singh, has filed a defamation suit against the new party for “mental agony, harassment and sullying the BJP’s image.”

Talking to BusinessLine , Singh, however, remained ambivalent about whether the BJP will make an effort to form a government in the Capital. “My case is against Kejriwal’s unsubstantiated and wild allegations. Whether or not the government is formed is dependent on a lot of other factors about which I am not at liberty to speak,” he said.

Meanwhile, after his 25-minute-long meeting with AAP leaders, Jung said he will take into account the “full situation and, after due consultations with others, send in a detailed report to the President of India for his consideration.” Kejriwal described the discussions with Jung as “good” and said the Lt Governor will now invite the BJP for discussions.

If the BJP claims that it can form the government, then the Lt Governor will ask it to show the numbers, said Kejriwal.

“Met LG. Had good discussions. He will now invite BJP for discussions. If BJP claims they can form government, LG will ask them to show nos... We told him that delay in dissolving Aassembly was encouraging horse-trading,” Kejriwal tweeted soon after the meeting.

Senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia said his party demanded conducting fresh polls “as soon as possible” as government formation in the current scenario is not possible. The AAP leader said as the Congress has already announced that all its eight MLAs will neither take nor give support to anyone, there is no possibility of government formation.

Question of numbers

In a statement, the Lt Governor’s office said: “Arvind Kejriwal along with 24 MLAs of Aam Aadmi Party, came and met Lt Governor Najeeb Jung. Making accusations of horse-trading, they asked for the dissolution of the Assembly.”

Referring to the BJP showing willingness to form a government, Sisodia asked why the party didn’t form government when it had 32 MLAs. “How will they form government with 29 MLAs now?”

Delhi BJP President Satish Upadhyay had, on Sunday, said his party is “fully ready” to face fresh elections though many party MLAs are reluctant to go to polls again.

At the same time, he said the party will explore taking a shot at power and talk about the numbers once invited by the Lt Governor.

Reacting to India’s stand on the Gaza issue, the AAP said in a statement that the NDA government’s refusal to adopt a unanimous resolution against Israeli aggression is a sad and unfortunate departure” from India’s long-standing policy on the issue.

India’s former Ambassador to Norway and AAP MP Harinder Singh Khalsa said the Government had betrayed the people of Palestine.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW