NEW DELHI : Ending the fortnight-long deadlock, the Aam Aadmi Party today staked claim to form the Government in the national capital with outside support from the Congress which it had trounced in the December 4 Assembly polls.
After the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) met this morning and decided to go with the results of the ‘referendum’ which overwhelmingly favoured the party taking the reins of power, AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal met Lt Governor Najeeb Jung and and handed over him a letter staking claim to form Government.
45-year-old Kejriwal, who was the party’s face in the elections, will be the new Chief Minister who will be sworn-in at a public event in the Ramlila Maidan, the venue of Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement for a Janlokpal Bill.
He said he would table a confidence motion in the assembly and “let’s see what happens”. This will be the capital’s first minority Government.
The date and timing of the swearing-in ceremony would be decided once President Pranab Mukherjee gives his decision, Jung told Kejriwal when he met him.
The Lt Governor told Kejriwal that he would send the proposal of Government making to the President for his decision.
After the two-hour-long meeting of the PAC at AAP office in Kausambi nearby Ghaziabad district, Kejriwal said AAP has decided to give a letter to the Lt Governor expressing its readiness to form the Government.
“We were called by the Lt Governor to discuss Government formation on December 14. We had sought time to take a decision as ours is a party of common people and we want to their views.
“We got responses from the citizens through website, phone calls, SMS and by holding public meetings and most of them favoured Government formation by AAP. We are now going to give the letter to LG saying that AAP is ready to form the Government,” Kejriwal told reporters at AAP’s office in Kausambi here.
He said the party held 280 public meetings across Delhi and in 257 such gatherings people favoured formation of Government by the party while the rest opined that they it should not take powers.
There has been deadlock over Government formation in Delhi for nearly two weeks after the announcement of the results on December 8. AAP has 28 seats while Congress with 8 has agreed to give outside support. BJP is the single largest party with 31 seats in its kitty. (AGENCIES)
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