Aam Aadmi to rule Delhi

Kejriwal team to take oath at Ramleela Ground on 25th or 26th

• Overwhelming majority in Delhi seem to be in favour of AAP forming govt, Kejriwal to call on Lt Governor today
• Says his govt will deliver whatever is promised
• Has the support of Cong which has just 8 seats

New Delhi: As the Aam Aadmi Party (AAMP) is all set to announce its decision on government-formation on Monday, the overwhelming majority seemed to be in favour of the party forming the government. AAP, which emerged as the second-largest party with 28 seats, next only to the BJP with 31 seats in the 70-member Delhi Assembly, has the support of the Congress with 8 seats, which takes up the tally to the majority figure. Arvind Kejriwal is frontrunner to be the next Delhi Chief Minister.

Kejriwal is expected to call on the Lt Governor today at 12.30 pm and stake his claim to form the government. He is likely to take the oath at Ramleela Ground, the scene of Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement, on December 25 or 26.

Kejriwal said, “A lot of public meetings took place on Sunday, including four in my own constituency of New Delhi. We will make the declaration on Monday morning only after we get the opinion of the people. This is for the first time that such a thing is happening in India. Earlier, the common man's role was limited to just voting, but we are going out to them and making them feel empowered. We are the talk of the town. This is true democracy.” Kejriwal asserted, “We will deliver whatever we assured in our manifesto. It (the manifesto) was prepared after wide consultations and a lot of thought went into it. Moreover, the people of Delhi are expecting much more from us and we will perform.” If the party does form the government, the promised date of December 29 to pass the Lokpal Bill in Delhi will have to be postponed by a week.

As a Hung Assembly was created for the first time in 20 years since Delhi Assembly polls were held in 1993, the Congress unilaterally extended support to AAP in its bid to form the government.

After BJP declined to form the government, Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung invited it to form the government.

AAP took time to decide on it and decided to consult the people. The party held street-corner meetings in as many as 272 wards. Besides, the party went in for SMS voting and claimed that overwhelming majority was in favour of AAP forming the government.

Significantly, without the entire dramatic exercise of AAP, AICC general secretary Shakeel Ahmed immediately after the results offered Congress support to the AAP to form the government.

The Congress felt that in the absence of a clear-cut majority, some way should be found to form the government, so as to avoid burdening the people with yet another election. After the Congress offer of support, the AAP launched its elaborate exercise of eliciting public opinion on whether or not the AAP should accept the support of Congress to form the government.

At the same time, AAP launched a vituperative attack on the Congress and accused it of corruption and threatened to send its leaders to jail.

DPCC president Arvinder Singh Lovely asked the AAP leaders to maintain norms of civility in their public discourse.