JOIN USAfter Lt Governor Najeeb Jung sent a letter to President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday giving his opinion on government formation in Delhi, the political scenario remained unclear.
The BJP, which is the single largest party, maintained that it will only think about government formation if the Lt governor (L-G) sends a formal invitation and said that the party will not promote horsetrading.
“The L-G has a right to tell the President about the situation and it should not be politicised. We will think about any possibility of government formation if the L-G calls us. Currently, we do not have the numbers for government formation,” Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay told reporters here.
In the letter to the President, the L-G briefed him about possibilities of government formation and on the option of leaving the matter to the discretion of the Supreme Court where the matter is coming up for hearing on September 9.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress accused the BJP of horsetrading and criticised the L-G’s move.
“The BJP is trying to form a government in the city by horsetrading. It is trying to buy the independents and the Congress MLAs to prove majority in the Assembly,” AAP leader Ashutosh told reporters here.
Delhi Congress chief spokesperson Mukesh Sharma said: “The Congress is continuously demanding for elections. If the people of Delhi have not chosen any party to rule then forming a government by any means will be like cheating them.”
At present, the BJP-Shiromani Akali Dal has 29 MLAs, the AAP has 28, Congress has 8 and three independent.
The total strength of the Assembly is 67 as three of the BJP MLAs have become MPs in the last Parliamentary elections, which also reduces the number for proving majority to 34 MLAs.
While one independent MLA Ranbir Shaukeen has clearly supported the BJP, another MLA Shoaib Iqbal has opposed the party. Third independent MLA Vinod Kumar Binny, who was recently expelled from the AAP, has still not confirmed his move.