Kejriwal Govt got 37 votes as against 32
The minority Aam Aadmi Party Government led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal crossed the first hurdle and won the vote of confidence on expected lines in the Delhi Assembly on Thursday.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government got 37 votes as against 32 and clearly passed muster.
28 AAP members along with seven of Congress, a lone JD(U) member and an Independent stood in support of the vote of confidence while 31 members of the BJP and one member of its ally Akali Dal stood against it.
Before the Assembly passed the trust vote by doing a head count of the members, it witnessed speeches by Opposition leader Dr Harsh Vardhan, Congress leader Arvinder Singh lovely and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who spoke last in support of the motion.
The Chief Minister however, sought not to enter into a verbal duel with the Opposition and did not reply to any of their questions and objections. Kejriwal’s speech centered around his party’s ideologies and the motives behind forming the Government in Delhi.
Taking cue from lok Sabha proceedings, Delhi Assembly also permitted live coverage of the trust vote by the media for the first time. The Assembly witnessed unprecedented crowds (AAP volunteers mostly) at the public gallery inside the House. After AAP won the vote of confidence, AAP supporters shouted slogans of Bharat Mata ki jai.
Replying to the vote of confidence motion after a four-and-a-half-hour debate, Kejriwal assured the House that those involved in corruption would not be spared. Promising to take stringent action against corrupt people, whether in the previous Congress Government, MCDs and his Government, the Chief Minister said he was not seeking support for his party or the Government, but for the issues facing the people of Delhi and related to the aam aadmi.
The vote of confidence motion was moved by PWD, Education Minister Manish Sisodia, who also sought support on 18 issues related to the common man of Delhi.
The Chief Minister appealed to the members to decide “on which side they are.” “Delhi’s aam aadmi has taken the lead in telling the country which direction national politics should take. They should decide which side they are on, in the fight for truth and honesty in politics and whether they want to participate in it,” Kejriwal said, in his 25-minute speech winding up the debate.
At the end of the debate, pro-tem Speaker Chaudhary Mateen Ahmed asked those in favour to stand up, followed by those against.
Replying to the taunts of the BJP that he has stopped talking about Congress’ corruption after taking support from it, Kejriwal said: “I want to assure the House that anyone found corrupt, whether those in the Congress Government of the last 15 years or MCDs or our own Government, we will take stringent action against them.”
Earlier, moving the motion, Sisodia urged members to rise above political affiliations and support the Government in the interest of new governance for the people of Delhi. “We are not a party. We are representatives of people and urge the MlAs of all parties to rise above party lines and support alternative governance for the people of Delhi,” he said. Rejecting the charge of compromise, he said the people of Delhi gave AAP the “moral mandate” to form the Government though not the numbers. The ‘referendum’ conducted by the party after the elections enhanced this mandate.