Gadkari talks to Rajnath but many central leaders in two minds
The BJP appears to be in the mood to form the Government in Delhi. There are indications that the party may actively consider forming a popular Government if invited by lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung as it is the single-largest party. As the Delhi unit of the BJP is keen to explore the possibility of forming a Government, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari is reported to have meet Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh over this issue. But the final call has to be taken by BJP president Amit Shah.
However, Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay said the party would explore the possibility if it was invited to form the Government. Meanwhile, there are enough indications that the central leadership is not enthused about forming the Government as the party lacks adequate numbers to prove majority in the House.
The BJP, along with its ally Akali Dal (which has one MlA) has 29 MlAs in the Assembly and it will require support of five more legislators to prove majority in the House. Garnering support of five MlAs is going to be a tough task for the party and it is also wary of being accused of horse-trading. The BJP had won 31 seats in the 70-member Assembly but the number of BJP MlAs came down to 28 as three party legislators, Harsh Vardhan,
Ramesh Bidhuri and Pervesh Verma, had resigned from the Assembly after they were elected to the lok Sabha. Following the resignation of three legislators, the strength of the Assembly had come down to 67 and the BJP will require the support of at least five more MlAs to reach the majority mark of 34 to prove its majority in the House.
Sources in the BJP said all its MlAs and senior leaders were not in favour of facing Assembly elections immediately and have already conveyed their views to the top leadership. In his report, Jung gave a detailed analysis of the political situation in the city and underlined the need to have an elected Government in the city which is under President’s Rule since February 17, following the resignation of the Aam Aadmi Party Government which was in power for 49 days.
In his report, the lieutenant-Governor has stated that there are three options before the Union Government that include dissolving the Delhi Assembly and holding fresh elections; keep the Assembly in suspended animation under President’s Rule and last, if no party stakes claim to form the Government in Delhi the BJP could be invited to take the reins as it is the single-largest party in the Assembly. In all options, the final decision has to be taken by the Union Government.
The lieutenant-Governor observed that all options for putting in place an elected Government should be explored before contemplating holding of fresh polls.Jung had not favoured dissolution of the Delhi Assembly as recommended by the Council of Ministers headed by Kejriwal and kept the Assembly in suspended animation. last week the Congress and AAP had cautioned Jung not to take any “unconstitutional move” by inviting the BJP to form the Government.
The Aam Aadmi Party had won 28 seats in its debut Assembly elections and had later formed the Government with outside support from the Congress’ eight MlAs. 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 the BJP and the Congress. Both the parties have been demanding immediate dissolution of the Assembly, saying keeping it in suspended animation will encourage horse-trading.