Bolstered by overwhelmingly positive feedback from the people of the national capital, the Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday gave clear indications that it was all set to form a government in Delhi with the support of the Congress.
Speaking at a public meeting, AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal said a ‘major announcement’ would be made on Monday. Asked who would be the chief ministerial candidate in case AAP formed the government, he said it was for the party MLAs to decide.
As the exercise seeking a referendum on the formation of a government concluded on Sunday, party leaders said they would declare the results at 11 a.m. on Monday. Following a formal announcement of the decision, party leaders are expected to meet Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung. The Congress has sent him a letter supporting AAP for government-formation.
AAP leaders having indicated they would form the government, political observers view the move as a change in its stance to neither seek nor extend support to the Congress or the BJP. AAP leaders have in this past expressed their antipathy towards the very “brand of politics” they practised.
Earlier on Sunday, Mr. Kejriwal asserted the party was ready to govern and would fulfil the promises made in its election manifesto.
Denying that the AAP was hesitant to form the government as it would not be able to fulfil its promises, Mr. Kejriwal said: “People of Delhi are expecting much more from us. We will perform and deliver all that we have promised. The manifesto was prepared after wide consultations with experts of the fields concerned and a lot of thought went into it.”
Trends in the AAP referendum carried out over a week showed that more people are in favour of its forming the government as opposed to those opposed to the move. The party claims to have received over 7.5 lakh responses through various channels.
Mr. Kejriwal had earlier said that forming the government and delivering on its promises would ultimately be beneficial for AAP in next year’s general elections. “If all of you favour forming the government, we will form the government,” Mr. Kejriwal said at the public rally at Lodhi Colony, asking people to raise their hands if they backed the proposal. A majority of the participants in the four public meetings organised in his constituency voted for government formation.
“Earlier, the role of the common public was limited to just voting, but we’re going out to them and taking their opinion in government-formation, which had never happened before in the political history of the country. This is true democracy,” he said.
(With inputs from K. Balchand)