Even as the deadlock over government formation in Delhi continued, the Congress on Tuesday said it favoured extending unconditional support to the Aam Aadmi Party, which won 28 seats in a hung Assembly. However, the AAP rejected the offer. National convener Arvind Kejriwal told The Hindu that the AAP was not taking the support of any party to form the government as the mandate was for his party to sit in the opposition. Nor was the AAP in favour of extending support to any party. The BJP has emerged the single largest party with 31 MLAs, falling short of five to be able to form the government on its own in the 70-member Assembly.
After the drubbing the Congress received in Delhi, its eight newly elected MLAs went into a huddle at the AICC headquarters here and gave their feedback about the polls. The meeting was convened by AICC general secretary and Delhi in-charge, Shakeel Ahmed, and attended by Pradesh Congress Committee president J.P. Agarwal. Speaking to the media after the meeting, Mr. Ahmed said: “We congratulated the MLAs on their victory despite the party’s performance. They were of the view that the party must extend support to the AAAP as fresh elections would be an extra burden on the people. We would apprise the high command of it.” The party, however, postponed electing leader of the Congress Legislature Party. The eight winners are Arvinder Singh Lovely (Gandhi Nagar), Haroon Yusuf (Ballimaran), Mateen Ahmed (Seelampur), Hasan Ahmed (Mustafabad), Prahlad Singh Sawhney (Chandni Chowk), Asif Mohammed Khan (Okhla), Devender Yadav (Badli) and Jai Kishan (Sultanpur Majra).
While the MLAs were vocal on extending support to the AAP, they are confused about the actual status and powers they will enjoy as legislators if Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung puts the Assembly in suspended animation and recommends President’s rule.
