Congress questions Jung's move to invite BJP to form govt in Delhi

New Delhi: In a hard hitting attack on Lt Governor Najeeb Jung, Delhi Congress today questioned his move to invite BJP to form government in the city, accusing him of acting at the behest of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and a section of BJP leaders. Reacting sharply to Lt Governor’s move, chief spokesperson of Delhi Congress Mukesh Sharma wondered why this initiative is being taken when BJP had already refused such an offer after the assembly polls citing lack of numbers.[caption id=“attachment_1345595” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Delhi Lt Governer Najeeb Jung. PTI[/caption] He also accused the home minister of trying to turn Lt Governor’s secretariat into a BJP office saying leaders from the party was openly influencing decisions of Jung and the Delhi government. “Lt Governor Najeeb Jung has been taking dictations from the Home Minister which is an insult to the Constitution and people of Delhi. We want to know what prompted LG’s move to invite BJP to form government when the party after the assembly polls had turned down such an offer,” Sharma said. He also asked BJP to clarify its stand on the issue as the party had stated very clearly after assembly polls that it will not adopt any “unfair means” to form a government in the city. “The BJP was invited to form government by LG after the assembly polls. But it had turned down the offer. Why has the party now shown interest in taking over the reins? We want to know how it will manage the numbers,” he asked. Jung had sent a report to President Pranab Mukherjee yesterday seeking permission to call BJP, the single largest party, to take a shot at power though it is well short of a majority in the Assembly. In his report, Jung gave a detailed analysis of the political situation in the city and underlined the need to have an elected government in the city which is under President’s rule since 17 February following resignation of the Aam Aadmi Party government which was in power for 49 days. The Lt Governor said though no party has staked claim to form government in Delhi, the BJP could be invited to take over the reins as it is the single largest party in the House. Jung observed that all options for putting in place an elected government should be explored before contemplating holding of fresh polls. Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay said the party would examine if such an offer was made. Sources in BJP said almost all its MLAs and senior Delhi leaders were not in favour of facing Assembly elections immediately and have already conveyed their views to top leadership. BJP, along with its ally Akali Dal’s one MLA, has 29 MLAs in the Assembly and it will require support of five more legislators to prove majority in the House. BJP had won 31 seats in the 70-member Assembly but the number of BJP MLAs came down to 28 as three party legislators Harsh Vardhan, Ramesh Bidhuri and Pervesh Verma had resigned from the Assembly after they were elected to Lok Sabha. Following resignation of the three legislators, the strength of the Assembly had come down to 67 and BJP will require support of at least five more MLAs to reach the majority mark of 34 to prove its majority in the House. The Aam Aadmi Party had won 28 seats in its debut Assembly elections and had later formed the government with outside support from Congress’ eight MLAs. The government led by Kejriwal had resigned on February 14 after the party’s pet project, the Janlokpal Bill, could not be passed due to opposition from BJP and Congress. President’s Rule was imposed in Delhi on 17 February. PTI