New Delhi:
Aam Aadmi Party founder Arvind Kejriwal has sought 10 days from Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Najeeb Jung, to decide on staking claim to form a government.
Here are the latest developments:
Mr Jung had invited Mr Kejriwal for talks this morning on government formation which the BJP had opted out of citing lack of numbers. It emerged as the single largest party in the assembly election in Delhi with 31 seats but fell short of the majority mark. Debutante AAP placed a closed second with an impressive 28 seats in a fractured mandate.
Mr Kejriwal submitted to Mr Jung copies of letters he had written to Congress President Sonia Gandhi and BJP chief Rajnath Singh, seeking to make their stand clear on 18 issues including the formation of the anti-corruption Jan Lokpal and audit of power companies.(Read Kejriwal's letter to Sonia) | (Read Kejriwal's letter to Rajnath)
Both the Congress and the BJP, Mr Kejriwal said, have offered unconditional support to his AAP to help it form a government in Delhi. The responses of the two parties to his letters, he said, would be presented before the public and help decide the AAP's next step.
The Congress had, last evening, offered its "unconditional support" to the AAP to avoid putting "an extra burden on the people" in the form of fresh elections. The party's eight seats would help the AAP reach the half-way mark of 36.
"We will examine the letter and will get back to Kejriwal in a day or two," Congress General Secretary Shakeel Ahmed said today.
Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde justified the Congress's offer of outside support to Mr Kejriwal's party due to the latter's promise of a "clean and non-corrupt government". (Read)
The 45-year-old Mr Kejriwal, though, indicated that he was wary of the offer. "No support in politics is unconditional", he said.
The BJP, meanwhile, has rejected the taxman-turned-politician's claims of the saffron party's offer of support. "This is ridiculous, #BJP has neither sought nor offered support to #AAP than how come #Kejriwal is writing letter and questioning us," tweeted party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar.
Lt Governor Jung has sent a report to President Pranab Mukherjee on the existing political scenario following consultations with the BJP and AAP, reported Press Trust of India.
If the AAP, too, decides to go BJP's way, fresh elections will have to be held in Delhi after imposition of President's Rule.
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