Delhi appears headed for a mid-term Assembly election after all the major political parties — the BJP, Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) — on Monday expressed their inability to form a government.
Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung is likely to send a report to the President recommending dissolution of the Assembly, ending the eight-month-long political uncertainty. The Assembly has been in suspended animation ever since President’s Rule was imposed in mid-February.
Mr. Jung had called the political parties for a consultation to explore the possibility of government formation. In separate meetings with him, all the three parties said they do not have the numbers to form a new government and sought fresh polls.
Top BJP sources said the party had taken “an in-principle” decision not to take a shot at government formation and the Central leadership had already conveyed to the Delhi unit to start preparations for fresh polls. “The party has decided to decline any offer of government formation. We will prefer going to the polls,” a senior party leader in Delhi said.
Delhi BJP president Satish Upadhyay and senior leader Jagdish Mukhi met the L-G in the morning and are understood to have conveyed the party’s view on the political situation. With 31 seats, the BJP had emerged as the single largest party in the elections last December, falling four short of a simple majority.
Congress and AAP leaders met the L-G later in the day and expressed their desire for fresh polls, along with the elections in Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir starting November-end.
Senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia said the party’s stand, of dissolving the Assembly, was the same as it was eight months ago.
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