After AAP disaster, Delhi needs governance
Now that the Aam Aadmi Party Government has resigned, the best way forward is to have a fresh Assembly election in Delhi, preferably with the lok Sabha poll. Neither the Bharatiya Janata Party nor the Congress is anywhere close to the numbers to form a stable regime. The BJP reiterated on Saturday, as it had done when Government formation was being discussed in December last year, that it is not keen on exploring options and that it prefers a fresh mandate. The Congress too is on the same page. The lieutenant Governor could well have gone through the formality of deliberating with the Opposition on the options that exist, but in the end he would have had to recommend President’s Rule, which he eventually did on Saturday. Mr Kejriwal and his party will naturally want an early election because they fervently believe that they will be able to better their tally of 28 seats. On the other hand, the BJP too is optimistic of improving upon its numbers and is confident of reaching the magic 36-mark, especially if the Assembly election is held alongside the lok Sabha poll or near about. The problem is for the Congress because in the given situation its stock is at an all-time low on account of the UPA’s miserable performance at the Centre, and also since the people of Delhi haven’t yet forgotten the failures of the Sheila Dikshit Government. However, the Congress has no alternative but to face the electorate sooner or later, and it may well prefer doing so early, before its image takes a further dip. Whatever the possibilities, the people of Delhi deserve a stable, performance-oriented Government after the disastrous AAP regime that Mr Arvind Kejriwal led. In the short 49-day period they ruled, the outgoing Chief Minister and his Cabinet did everything but govern. They unleashed a slew of populist but ill-thought out measures that eventually sought to benefit only a small and select section of the population; launched broadsides against prominent persons in and outside the political system, without a shred of evidence to back their shocking allegations; and threw to winds established norms and procedures that have served democracy fairly well. led by Mr Kejriwal, the AAP targeted democratic institutions and flung slurs at people holding constitutional posts. The regime tried to undermine the very democratic process that had brought it to power.
Mr Kejriwal and his supporters want the people to believe that the AAP Government quit because the Opposition had ganged up against their Jan lokpal Bill. The fact is that neither the BJP nor the Congress had opposed the Bill per se. They had blocked the Government’s move to table the Bill in the House in defiance of the lieutenant Governor's directive to the Government not to do so. His stand was based on the legal opinion that the Delhi Government could not bring in a Bill which had financial implications for the Centre, without the Union Government's approval. Mr Kejriwal could have followed the procedure of referring the Bill to the lieutenant Governor and then taken his battle ahead in case the Centre had declined his plea. That he did not and instead preferred confrontation, is not because of his ‘commitment' to fighting corruption in public life, but because he wanted to derive political mileage ahead of the lok Sabha election.