NEW DELHI, Oct 28: The Supreme Court today pulled up the Narendra Modi government for keeping Delhi assembly under suspended animation for more than eight months and said the decision to explore the possibility of government formation in Delhi should have been taken much earlier. A five-judge constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu, said, “People of Delhi want an elected Government in the national capital.”
The Centre informed the apex court that President Pranab Mukherjee has given the green signal to Lt Governor of Delhi Najeeb Jung to explore the possibility of formation of a Government in Delhi.
Mr Jung is likely to invite the single largest party in Delhi assembly, namely the BJP, to form the Government. In the 70-member House, the BJP and its ally Shiromani Akali Dal have 29 MLAs, down from 32 after its legislators Harsh Vardhan, Ramesh Bidhuri and Pravesh Verma were elected to the Lok Sabha.
The Aam Aadmi Party has 27 members, while the Congress has eight.
Byelections for Mehrauli, Tughlakabad and Krishna Nagar assembly seats are slated for November 25. The BJP, according to sources, may form a minority Government if invited by the Lt Gov.
BJP said it will give an “appropriate answer” on issue of government formation in Delhi after it gets invitation from the Lt Governor.
“When the LG invites the party for government formation in Delhi, which is at present under President’s rule, then the party will give appropriate answer at that time, ” Delhi BJP president Satish Upadhyay said.
Mr Upadhyay was responding to a question at a news conference here on government formation in Delhi. “We are maintaining our stand on the government formation in Delhi which was three months ago,” he said. AAP and Congress have, however, demanded fresh elections after dissolution of the assembly.
President’s rule was imposed in Delhi in February after the 49-day-old AAP government under Arvind Kejriwal resigned. AAP chief and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accused the BJP of ‘dirty tricks’ and shying away from elections.
Mr Kejriwal said, ‘If the BJP had even an ounce of confidence they would have held fresh elections.’ Asserting that the BJP will lose if polls are held in Delhi today, Mr Kejriwal said, ‘People in Delhi are troubled by electricity and water problems and we had eased that. ‘That’s why BJP is scared.
‘If they have even little shame, they should hold fresh elections in Delhi.”
Earlier, in a post on Twitter, Mr Kejriwal said,’How will BJP form govt? They don’t have nos. Why don’t they just call elections? BJP playing dirty tricks wid the people of Delhi. Tried four times earlier to ‘buy’ MLAs n form govt. Failed. Now 5th time?’
‘BJP running away from elections becoz they are dead scared of losing in Delhi.’
AAP leader Prashant Bhushan said, “The Supreme Court should give an order to Centre to dissolve assembly in Delhi and ask for fresh elections.”
“The AAP has been accusing the BJP of trying to form a government through horse-trading.”
Union Minister and senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu said his party is prepared for polls in Delhi and there is no question of horse-trading for government formation in the national capital. “Whenever elections are held in Delhi, the BJP is ready. “We will win with a clear majority, there is no question of horse-trading.”
(UNI)
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