The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has decided to seek the opinion of the people of Delhi on forming a Government. AAP Convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said his party would try and get a “sense” of the public opinion before taking a final call on Government formation, on December 23.

Addressing the press after a meeting of party MLAs, he said: “We will distribute 25 lakh copies of an open letter and hold 270 public meetings till Sunday. People can give their opinion via SMS, phone calls or on our Web site.”

Kejriwal said the AAP had decided to seek public opinion as there were differences over forming a government with Congress support, which, he said, was “known for pulling down Governments”. He cited the example of the Charan Singh (1980) and Chandra Shekhar (1991) Governments.

AAP, which won 28 seats in the elections, is eight short of a majority and has been offered ‘outside’ support by the Congress, which won eight seats.

Following the hung verdict on December 8, the BJP, the single largest party with 31 seats in the House of 70, declined to form a Government upon being invited first by the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi.

Accusing the BJP of “running away from its responsibility”, Kejriwal said it was because of AAP that the BJP was under pressure to remain clean, otherwise “they are known to have formed governments elsewhere after horse trading”. He also accused the BJP and Congress of joining hands to discredit AAP by saying it was “wary of running a Government”.

Earlier, AAP had written letters to the BJP and the Congress seeking their support for 18 demands. “The BJP did not care to respond,” said Kejriwal. The Congress, however, responded saying 16 of AAP’s demands could be met administratively and offered support for the other two.

Incidentally, after the results were out on December 8, AAP had declared that it would neither offer nor seek support from the BJP or Congress to form a Government.

>aditi.n@thehindu.co.in

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