Delhi on Monday night appeared headed for assembly elections with BJP, AAP and Congress expressing themselves against formation of a new government and seeking a fresh mandate to end the eight-month-long political uncertainty.
Indications are that Lt Governor Najeeb Jung, who met leaders of the three political parties, may send his recommendation to the President for dissolving the assembly any time.
While BJP declined the LG’s offer to form a government, AAP and Congress made it clear that they were in favour of immediate elections.
The LG held consultations in the wake of the Supreme Court putting the issue on the fast track and giving him time till November 11 to explore the possibility of forming a government.
The court was hearing AAP’s petition seeking early dissolution of the Assembly which has been under suspended animation since February after the fall of the AAP government.
Satish Upadhyay and Jagdish Mukhi of BJP, Haroon Yusuf of Congress and AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia met the Lt Governor. “All the above parties expressed their inability to form the government. The Lt Governor would be sending his report to the Hon’ble President,” a Raj Niwas release said.
Currently BJP, along with ally Akali Dal’s lone MLA, has 29 legislators and would require the support of five more MLAs to prove majority in the 67-member Assembly.
BJP had emerged as the single largest party in the December Assembly polls winning 31 seats but fell four seats short of a simple majority. It had refused to form government then, saying it will not resort to any “unfair means” to take over the reins.
AAP had formed the government in Delhi with the support of Congress. The government led by Kejriwal had resigned on February 14 after the party’s pet project, the Janlokpal Bill, could not be passed due to opposition from BJP and Congress.
President’s Rule was imposed on February 17.
Earlier on Monday, L-G called all parties for a meet. Delhi Congress leader Mukesh Sharma, meanwhile, batted for the dissolution of the assembly and fresh elections - a stand time and again reiterated by the AAP.
Jung’s decision to hold talks with all parties came against the backdrop of the Supreme Court recently criticising his and the Centre’s role over the delay in taking a call on government formation.
The L-G has been under fire over the issue, with Kejriwal training his guns on Jung. The former Delhi chief minister had accused Jung of “promoting horse-trading.”
Kejriwal and his party had stressed since the BJP does not have the numbers to form a stable government, inviting it would lead to “horse-trading.” The AAP had also accused the BJP of running away from fresh elections fearing defeat.
In the 70-member Delhi House, the BJP and its ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has 29 MLAs - down from 32 after its legislators Harsh Vardhan, Ramesh Bidhuri and Pravesh Verma were elected to the Lok Sabha. The AAP has 27 members, while the Congress has eight.
A lot is at stake for the AAP in Delhi. After its dismal showing in the April-May general elections - the party contested more than 400 seats and won just four - it is desperate to retain its foothold in Delhi. Positive response to Kejriwal’s recent rallies is believed to have given the AAP a shot in the arm.
The Delhi BJP, which won all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi in the 2014 elections, seems upbeat following the party’s pan-India success story - the most recent chapters of which were scripted in Maharashtra and Haryana.
Jung had last month sent a report to President Pranab Mukherjee seeking permission to invite the BJP. The Centre last week informed the Supreme Court that the President allowed Jung to invite the single largest party.
