Kejriwal, 3 others may take oath at Jantar Mantar or Ramlila Maidan
Delhi, in all likelihood, will get its new Chief Minister by Wednesday. Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal and three other leaders of the party are slated to take the oath as Chief Minister and Cabinet Ministers respectively on December 25. Unlike the usual trend, the debutante party wants the ‘aam aadmi’ to witness the ‘historic’ moment and hence has planned to hold the swearing-in ceremony either at Jantar Mantar or at Ramlila Maidan.
Sources in the party said while the AAP will officially announce its decision to form a Government with outside support from the Congress on Monday morning, it is expected to meet lieutenant- Governor Najeeb Jung on Tuesday.
Kejriwal and other leaders are expected to take the oath of office on Wednesday. The day being Christmas holiday, the party is also expecting participation by a large number of people on the occasion.
Against the general practice, the AAP may put up only three Ministers with the Chief Minister, who would take the ceremonious testimony. There have been six Ministers besides the Chief Minister in Delhi. The logic to put forward few Ministers initially may be because of the fact that most of the winning candidates or MlAs are first-timers and inexperienced. Just as the party introduced an all-new political narrative in the Capital, the Cabinet formed by it is likely to be different from usual. Having an unusually high number of youngsters in the AAP, Delhiites will surely get to see the youth holding important positions in the Government this time.
As the AAP has come a long way, the party is in no mood to make any mistakes in Government formation. “After deciding to form a Government, we would call a meeting of all the members. Opinions of party MlAs and dedicated members will be sought for the final decision on the Cabinet,” said party spokesperson Manish Sisodia, who is also the MlA from East Delhi’s Patparganj constituency. There were several strong and dedicated contenders, who did not win from their respective constituencies, he added.
Sisodia also indicated that once in power, the party would change the names of positions held in the Government. “Terms like Mukhya Sevak, Vidhan Sabha Sevak, Mantralay Sevak have more sense of belongingness we feel. I feel the names should be such rather than the usual which have an authoritative connotation,” he said.
Speaking on the party’s key agenda of reducing power tariffs by 50 per cent, Sisodia said, “We have chalked out a plan for this. Our equations are decided and balanced. The Delhi Jal Board, the Airport authority and many others have all been paying their power bills, but the records of discoms show that no payment has been done for months. Once Discoms are brought under the CAG scanner, power bills will reduce automatically.”
Meanwhile, winning and losing candidates of the party from all the 70 Assembly constituencies were busy holding Jan Sabhas in their areas on Saturday as part of the party’s referendum on whether to form the Government or not.
“By Sunday afternoon, we intend to finish all the Jan Sabhas. After which, a final tabulation of all the text messages, mails, letters and IVR messages will be done. leaders, candidates of all constituencies and other members will take the final call in a meeting on Sunday night,” said Kumar Vishwas, a party member.