Amidst reports that Delhi Lt Governor Najeeb Jung has sought President Pranab Mukherjee’s permission to invite the single largest party in the State Assembly — the BJP — to form the government in the capital, Delhi BJP legislators are pushing the central leadership to support their efforts in this direction.
However, Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay said he neither has any knowledge about the LG’s letter to the President nor has he received any invitation to form a government.
“Our strategy is clear from day one. We have not received any invitation or information yet,” he said. “Even if these reports are true, we have no information as of now. If we receive any such invitation, we will critically analyse it. And we will think whether we can form the government or not, what is our position and who will support us.”
According to party sources, Upadhyay met senior party leader and Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday to “discuss” the matter.
Rajnath said the BJP will take a decision on the issue.
“The party will take a decision,” he told reporters after Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, who is election in-charge in Delhi, met him at the North Block. The Home Minister also said the LG’s report has not come to him yet.
The stand of BJP President Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not clear at present.
Delhi has been under President’s rule since February and the Assembly is currently in suspended animation. Unlike other states, President’s rule in Delhi can be for up to a year and the BJP has time till next February to firm up its position.
With an adversary as vocal as AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, the BJP can hardly afford the political cost of forming a government by splitting another party.
The AAP and the Congress reacted sharply to the reports of the BJP being asked to form the government.
The Congress, on its part, accused the BJP of running away from elections.
“BJP is definitely running away from elections in Delhi,” Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely said. “They had made huge promises before the elections and this (reluctance to contest elections) is because they were not able to fulfil those promises.”
The AAP said the move will be a ‘murder of democracy’.
The party, which ran a government in Delhi for 49 days with Congress support before resigning, said asking to BJP to form the government will be unconstitutional.
“They had already refused in writing. If the BJP at all forms the government, it would be the death of democracy. I’ll shave off my head to mark that,” AAP leader and former State law minister Somnath Bharti said.
Horse-trading
Senior AAP leader and the party’s Delhi convenor Ashutosh tweeted: “Media reports clearly signal that Lt Governor of Delhi is promoting horse trading. President should not allow him and BJP to play with democracy. It will be a rape of Constitution if a party which has refused to form government once, is invited to form the Govt.”
“We have never claimed that we want to form the government. Our numbers are still less. We don't know who will give us support. When the invitation comes, we will think about it,” said the BJP’s Upadhyay.
The BJP had emerged as the single largest party after the polls in December 2013 with 32 seats, including one of the Akali Dal, in the 70-member Assembly.
But it refused to form the government saying it did not have the numbers and will not resort to horse-trading to stake its claim.
The AAP, with 28 MLAs, then formed the government with the support of eight Congress MLAs but Kejriwal later quit and the Assembly has been in suspended animation since February.
Meanwhile, the BJP’s number has come down to 28 after three of its MLAs — Harsh Vardhan, Ramesh Bidhuri and Parvesh Verma — got elected to the Lok Sabha.
The strength of the Assembly also went down to 67 and the simple majority mark is now 34.
Simple majority If the BJP manages to get the support of the Congress’ six MLAs, which will also constitute a one-third split in the party, it can cross the simple majority mark.
Then there is an Independent and one more suspended AAP MLA who can be asked to join the BJP’s efforts to form the government.
With veteran Jagdish Mukhi or newcomer Meenakshi Lekhi being touted as a possible future chief minister, the BJP’s Delhi unit is all geared to form the government in the capital.