Kejriwal meets Delhi LG

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal met Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung on Tuesday, triggering speculation over formation of Delhi government.

The meeting comes on a day when Congress declared it will not support the AAP in forming the government. The BJP had earlier indicated it prefers fresh elections to the Delhi Assembly, currently under suspended animation.

Kejriwal was accompanied by close aide and senior party leader Manish Sisodia in the nearly half-an-hour meeting with Jung.

Refusing to divulge details, Sisodia said the meeting was a “courtesy call”. Party sources said AAP is likely to clarify its position on government formation after a meeting on Wednesday.

The meeting comes amidst demand by a section of AAP MLAs to explore the possibility of forming an AAP-led government with the outside support from Congress. 

In the last two days, Kejriwal had met several AAP MLAs to discuss the party’s future strategy, said party sources.

Sources said that majority of sitting MLAs do not want re-election thinking that the “Modi wave” may lead to another electoral drubbing. In the just concluded Lok Sabha polls, the party came second to BJP on all seven Delhi parliamentary constituencies.

Earlier on Sunday, the party had ruled out the possibilities of taking outside support from either the BJP or the Congress. 

The BJP MLAs’ tally in Delhi has come down to 28 as three party legislators Harsh Vardhan, Ramesh Bidhuri and Pervesh Verma have been elected to Parliament. 

Therefore, BJP along with its ally Akali Dal has 29 seats in the 70-member Assembly. Some AAP legislators who had mooted the idea of government formation thought they were close to pushing the party once again in the government.

Delhi has been under President’s Rule since February when Arvind Kejriwal resigned as chief minister over his failure to pass the Jan Lokpal bill in the Assembly.

Congress on Tuesday said that it will not support the AAP to form the government in Delhi. This official position comes after three Congress legislators had reportedly expressed their desire to extend outside support to an AAP-led government. 

“We will not support the AAP at any cost. When we gave them the opportunity, they ran away,” said Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely, adding that it is up to the BJP to form the government. 

Supporting the state unit decision, Congress general secretary Ajay Maken tweeted: “Under no circumstances the Congress will support the AAP to form the government in Delhi.”