NEW DELHI, Dec 25: Delhi’s Chief Minister-designate Arvind Kejriwal was today asked to prove his majority on the floor of Delhi Assembly by January 3.
Lt Governor Najeeb Jung told Kejriwal to prove his majority on the floor of the House within seven days from the date on which he takes oath of office after receiving the clearance of President Pranab Mukherjee.
Kejriwal, who led Aam Aadmi Party to a remarkable victory in Assembly elections, will take oath on Saturday along with six other AAP MLAs who will be part of the Cabinet.
“The President has directed that Kejriwal may be asked to prove his majority on the floor of the House within seven days from the date on which he takes oath of office,” senior officials in Delhi Government said.
They said the President has appointed Kejriwal as Chief Minister of the National Capital Territory of Delhi with effect from the date he is sworn in.
Sources said a session of the Assembly is likely to be called from January 1.
AAP has 28 seats while Congress with 8 has agreed to give it outside support. BJP is the single largest party with 31 seats in its kitty. The party had declined to form Government citing lack of majority in the 70-member Assembly.
The date for the swearing-in ceremony was finalised at a meeting Kejriwal held with Delhi Chief Secretary D M Spolia.
The Cabinet Ministers to take oath along with Kejriwal are Manish Sisodia, Rakhi Birla, Somnath Bharti, Saurabh Bhardwaj, Girish Soni and Satendra Jain.
Kejriwal will take oath as Delhi’s seventh Chief Minister on Saturday at historic Ramlila Maidan, the venue of Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement.
A Magsaysay award winner, 45-year-old Kejriwal and six other AAP MLAs will be sworn-in in a public ceremony at 12 pm to which Anna Hazare, Kiran Bedi, Santosh Hegde and all those associated with the anti-corruption movement will be invited.
Born in Haryana and a resident of Kausambi in nearby Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh, the IIT-Kharagpur graduate in Mechanical Engineering, had defeated three-time Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit in New Delhi constituency by a huge margin of over 25,000 votes.
Earlier, talking to media, Kejriwal denied having any rift within the party on the issue of cabinet berths.
Kejriwal asserted that AAP has not firmed up an alliance with Congress as the support given by it was based on its 18-point agenda. There has been dissenting voices in Congreess over support to AAP.
He indicated that a number of announcements will be made on fulfilling key promises of the party like cutting power tariff and ordering auditing of the private power distribution companies immediately after assuming charge.
A day after Laxmi Nagar MLA Binny, a ministerial aspirant, walked out of a meeting at Kejriwal’s house after coming to know that he was not among the probable Ministers, Kejriwal said the legislator was not interested in a ministerial berth.
“Binny came to me last evening. He told me he does not want a ministerial berth and that he was here for a mission. Binny said he has conveyed to the media that he was not upset,” said Kejriwal.
Binny, on his part, stated that he was not angry and that there was no rift in the party. “There is no rift between me and the party. There is nothing that I was angry about after being denied a post in the ministry,” he told reporters.
Kejriwal had met Lt Governor Najeeb Jung on Monday and handed over him a letter staking claim to form Government with outside support from the Congress.
Following this, Jung had sent a proposal to President Pranab Mukherjee detailing AAP’s stake to form the Government. The President approved the proposal yesterday and left it to the Lt Governor to finalise the date for swearing-in ceremony in consultation with the Chief Minister-designate.
Kejriwal said he was working on portfolios to be given to six MLAs whose names were recommended to Lt Governor to be included in his cabinet.
He said auditing of private power distribution companies, and supply of 700 liters of water free to all homes are the focus areas.
“We will work on the supply of water within 24 hours. Every colony has its own problems. We are also working on the reduction in power tariff,” he said.
The AAP leader reiterated that his party has no alliance or coalition with anyone. “We are with all those lawmakers of Delhi who think that the problems of Delhi should be put to an end.”
Meanwhile, newly-appointed Delhi Congress Chief Arvinder Singh said AAP should not resort to political vendetta.
“If the AAP tries to do things with vendetta, then definitely we will raise our voice. We are not reviewing support to AAP,” he said.
Congress spokesperson Sandeep Dikshit also said the party will not go back on the issue of its support to AAP for Government formation.
“We are supporting the manifesto of AAP at least in the coming time or whatever we have committed to the Lieutenant Governor. The party will stand by it,” he told reporters here.
Kejriwal today promised to bring Jan Lokpal Bill in 15 days and termed the rule as “wrong” which makes it mandatory for a state to seek the Centre’s nod to pass a law.
“We will bring Jan Lokpal Bill within 15 days…The constitution says Delhi Assembly can formulate laws except on some issues mentioned in the state list. The State cannot make any law in violation of the Centre’s law,” Kejriwal said.
“In 2002, the Transaction of Business Rules was amended. It was added that the State Government, while introducing any law, will take permission from the Centre.
“This (rule) is wrong. It used to happen under British rule where Indian Government used to take permission from London,” Kejriwal said.
“In Delhi, we have an elected Government, so it is absolutely wrong. We will overcome every hurdle. We will not sit quite,” said Kejriwal adding the “crisis” is created by the opposition and is not a constitutional “crisis”.
Kejriwal also claimed his party will overcome every challenge in implementing the promises made to the people of Delhi.
“We expect many obstructions to come in the Government’s way but we will take them head on. Earlier they had challenged us to fight election. Then they said Aam Aadmi cannot run Government. We will run Government in a better manner,” he said.
Kejriwal will take oath as Delhi Chief Minister on Saturday at Ramlila Maidan here, capping his party’s stunning electoral debut in the December 4 Assembly polls.
While releasing its manifesto last month, AAP had promised to bring the Jan Lokpal, or an anti-corruption ombudsman, within 15 days by calling an open session of Delhi Assembly on December 29.
“This Delhi Jan Lokpal Bill would cover all the officials and employees of Delhi Government, from the Chief MinGster to MLAs. Under this law, it would be mandatory for everyone to declare their assets. The Lokpal would have full autonomy. Administrative, financial and functional independence and powers to take action public servants,” Yogendra Yadav, head of AAP’s manifesto committee, had said while releasing the manifesto.
Those found guilty of corruption would be sacked, sent to jail and their property would be confiscated, he had added. (PTI)
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