The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has decided to form government in Delhi with the support of the Congress.
Speaking at a round-table conference on electoral reforms here on Sunday, AAP leader Prashant Bhushan said, “We will form a government in Delhi with the support of the Congress.”
He said 70 per cent of the respondents in a referendum had supported the formation of government headed by AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal. “We had sought feedback from the people of Delhi regarding their views on formation of a government and a majority of the people have suggested that the AAP form the government,” he said.
Noting that the country’s representative democracy supported crony capitalists, he said, “We cannot trust the Congress” but “we will form the government with the outside support of the Congress.” Moreover, there was no internal democracy in the Congress. All decisions were taken by the party high command, said Mr. Bhushan.
The UPA government passed the Lokpal bill to gain political advantage in the next general elections. “But I don’t think that the Congress will have any benefit by passing the Lokpal bill at the fag end of the UPA term.”
The AAP demanded the UPA government to pass the Jan Lokpal bill but it had passed a weaker version for the benefit of politicians of all political parties. “If the Jan Lokpal had been passed, nearly 50 per cent of the Ministers in the UPA government will land in jail,” he said.
In a true representative democracy, ward sabhas in urban areas and gram panchyats in rural areas need to be empowered to take all decisions. “Only people will decide on what to spend and how much to spend, what laws are required and how they should be implemented,” he said.
The former Chief Justice of India, M.N. Venkatachalaiah, inaugurated the round-table meet and said there was no internal democracy in political parties in the country.
All the parties are either run by family members or a few influential people at the top, he said.
Legislative Council Chairman D.H. Shankaramurthy, former Assembly Speaker Krishna and others attended the meet. The Jana Sangrama Parishat and the Press Club of Bangalore organised the programme.
