Former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit (File photo)
Senior Congress leader and former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today stood by her comment that if BJP have the numbers, they should be asked to prove it on the floor of the House.
"I took a constitutional position, if they (BJP) have the numbers. Because without the numbers, whether you have support or not, you cannot form a government. No one should read into what I have said, I have simply stated the constitutional position," Ms Dikshit said.
Reacting to the Congress distancing itself from her remark, the 76-year-old said, "The Congressmen who made these remarks - I don't think they really knew what I said. Because later they corrected themselves."
Ms Dikshit, who was the chief minister of Delhi for three consecutive terms, said if the BJP could not prove its numbers, Delhi would have to face elections in February 2015, when the current term of President's Rule ends.
She also ruled out her return to Delhi politics. "I have been in the government for 15 years and one year before that preparing the party for elections. And I think it needs a full stop," she said.
She, however, expressed her willingness to accept any position in the Congress Working Committee.
Ms Dikshit, one of the seniormost members of the Congress, also commented on what seemed like a growing divide between the party's old guard and its younger leaders.
"If there is no churning now, you will say we are immune to even such a defeat. There are ideas coming forth and eventually a consensus will be reached. I don't see why this should be seen as dissent or dissidence," she said.
She, however, added that leaders should express their views within the party forum and not speak out in public.
Ms Dikshit, who was appointed the Governor of Kerala after she lost the elections in Delhi in December, resigned last month after the NDA government insisted that all governors appointed by the UPA government go.
"I was hurt by the way the government handled the issue, but more than an individual's humiliation, it is the office of the Governor that has been denigrated," she said.
"If all parties decide that Governors should quit the moment a government changes, then perhaps the Governor can go in a much more dignified way," she added.