Amid speculation of government formation in Delhi, a Government source told The Hindu on Wednesday that any decision would hinge on the Union Home Ministry. “The Lieutenant-Governor will merely send a report detailing the political situation. The MHA may advise him to either extend the President’s Rule for another six months or call for fresh polls. We don’t think the Union Government is under any pressure to declare elections just yet.”
The national leadership of the BJP has not raised any objections to Mr. Jung’s functioning, although he was appointed by the Congress. Since the President’s Rule was imposed on February 17, Mr. Jung’s administration has done an overhaul of drainage and hospitals. Several key infrastructure and connectivity projects like the Barapullah Phase-II have also been cleared under his watch.
During this period, the city faced a power crisis during which Mr. Jung and Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal joined forces to get natural gas allotted for power production and get power infrastructure back on track. The former Madhya Pradesh bureaucrat also spearheaded a crack-down on hoarders of food products and made supply-side interventions to control inflation -- a burning issue that fell the Congress and has remained as a thorn in the side of the BJP too. “Those who have to come (defect) will come anyway. The important thing is that we now call the shots. Election, (extension of) President’s Rule and government formation with support from like-minded MLAs are options that are open. Mr. Jung’s role is to follow orders of the Union government which he will do,” a BJP leader told this paper.
It’s this political dialectic which Mr. Jung understands better than some of his counterparts due to his experience during the tumultuous 80s in Madhya Pradesh, when the BJP rose in the Congress heartland. This tenure, sources in Bhopal claim, taught him to play both sides of the chess board.
“At the end of the day, he is an efficient administrator and politicians both in the BJP and the Congress understand that. I don’t think he worries about government formation. His task is to keep himself useful, which he is,” one of Mr. Jung’s seniors told this paper. Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung also seems to be in no hurry to intervene.
