NEW DELHI, July 16: BJP today indicated that it was ready to form a government in the national capital, nearly six months after the party refused to take the plunge citing lack of majority.
Newly-appointed Delhi BJP Chief Satish Upadhyay, after two separate meetings with party MLAs and MPs on the issue, said the party will consider taking a shot at government-formation if invited by the the Lt Governor.
Sources said almost all MLAs and MPs were in favour of BJP forming the government and a final decision on the issue is likely to be taken after Prime Minister Narendra Modi returns from Brazil.
They said senior leader and former Delhi Finance Minister Jagdish Mukhi was the front runner for the Chief Minister’s post as he is known to have good equations with all quarters in the party.
BJP will require the support of five additional MLAs to prove majority in the assembly and the sources said the party was confident of getting them.
“We will consider it (formation of government) provided Lt Governor Najeeb Jung calls us,” Upadhyay said.
The sources said at least five Congress MLAs were ready to form a separate group and extend support to a BJP government.
BJP had emerged the single largest party after in the assembly polls with 32 seats including ally Akali Dal’s one MLA in the 70-member assembly.
The party fell four seats short of a simple majority and had refused to form government in December last year, saying did not have the numbers and will not resort to any “unfair means” to take the reins.
AAP with 28 MLAs had later formed the government with support of eight Congress MLAs.
BJP’s number came down to 28 in the House in May after three of its legislators Harsh Vardhan, Ramesh Bidhuri and Pervesh Verma were elected to Lok Sabha. With the resignation of three MLAs, the strength of the assembly also went down to 67 and the simple majority mark would be 34. (PTI)
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