Shokeen quits: Why Kejriwal-led AAP govt may still survive

By Soumik Mukherjee and Shruti Dhapola New Delhi: At a juncture when it seems that the Aam Aadmi Party might not survive, following independent MLA Rambir Shokeen’s withdrawal of support, BJP, the principal opposition party in Delhi said that it will not seek the Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung’s intervention to ask the AAP government to prove majority in the assembly.[caption id=“attachment_1382853” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Naresh Sharma/Firstpost[/caption] Talking to Firstpost, BJP’s Delhi unit chief Vijay Goel said that right now his party is not concerned about the fate of the AAP-led Delhi government, which is yet to finish its second month after being elected to power last December. “It’s Rambir Shokeen’s own decision whether he would withdraw his support from the government,” the state BJP chief said. “If they lose majority then in any case it has to prove its majority but we will not make any appeal to the Lieutenant Governor,” said Goel. That it was unlikely for the BJP to make any effort to bring down the government was evident in the morning itself when Leader of Opposition Harsh Vardhan tweeted, “BJP will not allow Arvind Kejriwal to resign and run away.We are committed to fight corruption and support Jan Lokpal. Send a copy to us.” Earlier talking to Firstpost Vardhan said that there was no chance that his party would have opposed the passage of the Jan Lokpal bill. “It was during Atal Vihari Vajpayee’s tenure when the resolution on Lokayukta was passed, so it’s very unlikely that we will oppose the bill but none of our MLAs have seen the bill,” he said. The AAP government, however, seems safe from an immediate threat of losing its majority in the Assembly even after Shokeen withdrew support. The party has claimed that it has the numbers to prove majority. “There is no worry that AAP government will fall. Even without Shokeen and Binny’s support we still have the numbers. There are 27 from our party and eight from the Congress which is 35. That’s a tie in the Assembly and in this case the speaker will vote,” said Dilip Pandey, an AAP spokesperson. However, in the current situation regarding the passage of Jan Lokpal, the rift between Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party seems to be growing. During a TV debate today Congress general secretary Shakil Ahmed even went on to somewhat regret the decision of supporting the AAP government. In another development, the BJP MLAs under Vardhan also met President Pranab Mukherjee today to express their disappointment against the AAP government. “We have told the president that as a party BJP is committed to fight corruption and supports the idea of Jan Lokpal but it will not support an extra constitutional way of passing the bill,” said Vardhan.