With Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tendering his resignation, Delhi faces another Assembly polls.
The ball is in the court of lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung. Addressing his supporters from AAP’s headquarters at Hanuman Road, Kejriwal announced that he had recommended the dissolution of the Assembly. Technically, Kejriwal cannot recommend the dissolution of the Assembly as his Government failed to pass the muster in tabling the Bill. His Government was reduced to minority as 42 members voted in the House of 70.
Now Jung has limited options. The foremost will be to explore the possibility of the formation of a new Government as was practiced by then President Shankar Dayal Sharma, who invited HD Deve Gowda to form a Government after the BJP Government led by Atal Bihar Vajpayee fell in 1996.
He may either invite Harsh Vardhan, the leader of Opposition BJP in the Assembly, to form a government, or can recommend the dissolution of the Assembly. Another option is to send a report to the Centre for keeping the Assembly in suspended animation till a viable option comes before him.
Political watchers say keeping the Assembly under suspended animation will suit the Congress as it would not like to go for Assembly polls along with the lok Sabha elecions. It would like to watch the result of the lS elections and then decide its future course of action vis-à-vis Delhi Assembly election. The Congress fears that it may face further erosion of its support base if it yields to Kejriwal’s recommendation to dissolve the Assembly.
Opinion is divided whether the l-G will accept the recommendation as the Kejriwal Government. It was a cardinal error committed by the Chief Minister and his colleagues with no legislative experience. The very mention that “I seek the leave of the House” meant that it needed the approval of the house for tabling of the Bill. Kejriwal faced a major embarrassment as 42 members, 32 of BJP and Akali Dal (Badal), 8 members of Congress, Matia Mahal MlA Shoaib Iqbal and Independent member Rambir Shokeen opposed the very tabling of the Bill. The AAP Government lost on the floor of the House after the majority rejected the tabling of the Bill.
Former Secretary of Delhi Assembly SK Sharma said that the Government was reduced to a minority. “Since the Kejriwal Government failed to get the permission of the House to table the Bill, it was reduced to a minority Government and in such a scenario, the l-G was not bound to accede to the demand of the leader of the House to dissolve the Assembly”.
Sources said that the decision to dissolve the Delhi Assembly is a political one hence the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) will weigh the pros and cons once the l-G sends his report to the Centre.
Secondly, the sentiments of the Delhi Congress leaders such as former CM Sheila Dikshit, State Congress president Arvinder Singh lovely and Haroon Yusuf too will be sought before a political decision to dissolve the Assembly and go for fresh polls.