Following the BJP’s reluctance to stake claim to a new Government in Delhi owing to a hung verdict, the Congress on Tuesday expressed its willingness to give the AAP unconditional support to form a Government in Delhi.
Delhi Congress president Jai Prakash Aggarwal and eight newly elected party MlAs met AICC general secretary and in-charge of Delhi affairs Shakeel Ahmed and suggested that the party should offer unconditional support to Kejriwal to prevent the BJP from coming to the power in the national Capital. In the meanwhile, AAP chief Kejriwal refused to take support of the Congress to form a Government in the Capital. “We are ready for it (re-election). At present, we will neither take, nor extend, support to either the BJP or the Congress to form the Government. But unlike this election, next election would be contested between the BJP and the AAP, as the Congress has lost badly,” Kejriwal said.
Sources in the Congress said that the party wants to put the AAP in the dock and that is why it is keen to offer unconditional support to it to form a Government. “Once the AAP comes to power, it will be exposed,” said the sources. A Congress MlA who was Minister in the Sheila Dikshit Government said that he would welcome an alliance with the AAP. “A number of MlAs are of the opinion that the party should give unconditional support to AAP to form a Government. If the party high command permits, Delhi Congress MlAs are ready to give unconditional support to the AAP to prevent the saffron party,” Congress MlA Jai Kishan said.
Party MlA Asif Mohammed Khan, who won from the Okhla seat, said that MlAs are not in favour of facing re-election within a short span. Kejriwal also distanced himself from AAP leader Prashant Bhushan statement that the AAP may support a BJP-led government. Bhushan had told a TV channel on Monday night that the AAP may consider supporting the BJP if the party gives in writing that it will pass the Jan lokpal Bill. “There is no question of supporting BJP. What Prashant said yesterday was his personal opinion,” Kejriwal tweeted shortly after a meeting of his party leaders which decided not to take or give support to the Congress or the BJP.