New Delhi:
After multiple meetings through the day, the BJP is in a huddle with the party in charge for Delhi Nitin Gadkari and Delhi BJP chief Satish Updadhyaya holding separate talks with senior party leader and Home Minister Rajnath Singh on whether the party is ready for fresh elections in the national capital. The hectic deliberations were prompted by Delhi's Lieutenant Governor reportedly recommending to the President that the option of inviting the single largest party, the BJP, to form government can be explored.
"There are several options before the BJP... We are ready for elections, we will win," said Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyaya after meeting Rajnath Singh.
Another meeting of top leaders might yield a decision on whether the BJP will say yes if invited to form government.
The BJP, which is five legislators short of a majority, is reportedly looking at two options. One section of the party suggests that the BJP should try and form the government and then dare rivals Congress and Aam Aadmi Party to bring it down. They calculate that if the opposition is shown up for thwarting efforts to form a stable government, the BJP will have an advantage when fresh elections are held.
Another section warns that efforts to form government may end up being a misadventure and the party should decline as it did after the state elections last December.
Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party has said inviting the BJP to form government would be unconstitutional and would encourage defections.
The Congress' Manish Tiwari said, "What has changed since then? They still need five MLAs to stake claim."
On Tuesday next, AAP's petition for fresh polls in Delhi will be heard in the Supreme Court, which had in strong words said at the last hearing, "We cannot have a situation where MLAs are sitting at home drawing salaries while citizens of Delhi are denied an elected government."
President's Rule was imposed in Delhi in February this year when Mr Kejriwal abruptly resigned just 49 days after he was sworn in as chief minister. AAP had formed government with the help of the Congress after the BJP declined.