Three months after quitting as Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday apologised to the people of Delhi and the country for “resigning midway” and said the party will gear up for elections.
The AAP chief, who had quit as CM after a 49-day stint, said the chances of his party forming a government in Delhi were negligible in the current scenario.
“I apologise to the people of Delhi and the country for resigning midway,” he told reporters.
“We had a meeting and we have decided to gear up for elections. We will go among the people, will hold various meetings in Delhi in the coming days. We will apologise to people of Delhi in meetings and gain their trust to ask them to support us with complete majority,” he said.
Asked about the possibility of forming a government again, Mr. Kejriwal said, “There were possibilities but none can be seen feasible at present to form the government.”
Mr. Kejriwal had on Tuesday met Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung and asked him not to dissolve the assembly anytime soon, saying it will hold public meetings across the city to know whether the party should form the government again.
However, the Congress, which had supported the Mr. Kejriwal government earlier, had refused to support them again.
AAP had won 28 seats in its debut assembly elections in December last year and had later formed the government with outside support from Congress’ eight MLAs.
BJP along with its ally Akali Dal’s one MLA had won 32 seats in the 70-member Assembly. The number of BJP MLAs has come down to 28 as three party legislators Harsh Vardhan, Ramesh Bidhuri and Pervesh Verma have been elected to Parliament.
The government led by Mr. Kejriwal had resigned on February 14 after the party’s pet project — the Jan Lokpal Bill — could not be passed due to opposition from BJP and Congress.
President’s Rule was imposed in Delhi on February 17.
Lt Governor Najeeb Jung had not favoured dissolution of the 70-member Delhi Assembly as recommended by the Council of Ministers headed by Mr. Kejriwal and kept the Assembly in suspended animation.
BJP has also said that it would prefer a fresh election than forming a government through “manipulation”.
