Delhi's Congress MLAs meet to decide on allying with AAP

As Delhi waits on tenterhooks for a decision on whether there will be a government or a re-poll after the results of Sunday’s assembly election threw up a hung assembly, the chorus among the eight Congress MLAs to extend support to the Aam Admi Party (AAP) seems to be growing. After one of the Congress MLAs told _Firstpost_ on Monday that he welcomed an alliance with the AAP, another Congress MLA, who is a senior leader, has told Firstpost that a decision on extending ‘conditional support’ to AAP will be taken at a meeting today. Reacting to the Congress’s drubbing at the polls, the MLA said, “People were adamant to change the government. The propaganda that was unleashed by the BJP and the Aam Admi Party about halving power bills and distributing 700 litres of free water – it is time to see if it can be done. " [caption id=“attachment_1279577” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  AFP[/caption] “We kept saying the Delhi power tariff was the lowest. But that didn’t cut any ice with the people. We must respect what people have voted for,” the MLA said. But the Congress deciding to support AAP solves only half the problem given that AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal has ruled out any possibility of an alliance with either the BJP or the Congress. As the situation stands now, the BJP at 31 plus 1 from its ally Shiromani Akali Dal is still four short of the magic figure of 36. Even if Independent candidate Rambir Shokeen gives up his demand for deputy CM’s post and supports the BJP, it is still three seats away from a simple majority. The sole Janata Dal (United) candidate Shoaib Iqbal has made his intentions clear by expressing his preference for AAP over the BJP. AAP with its historic tally of 28 has so far remained adamant about not staking claim to form government.