#dnaEdit: Delhi in a bind

By releasing the video of a sting operation on Monday, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) may well have queered the pitch for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is attempting to cobble together a government in Delhi. The video shows BJP vice-president Sher Singh Dagar allegedly offering approximately Rs4 crore to Dinesh Mohaniya, AAP MLA from Sangam Vihar. Dagar is heard telling the AAP legislator that the BJP is also contacting MLAs from other parties. The authenticity of the video — if and when established — would only reinforce the AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal’s allegations about horse–trading. That the BJP has issued a show cause notice to Dagar appears to lend credibility to the video in question.

Kejriwal has consistently charged the BJP with trying to sabotage the legitimate process of fresh elections in Delhi which came under President’s Rule in February. He has accused the BJP of trying to buy off AAP MLAs in a bid to notch up the party’s inadequate numbers. At present the BJP and its allies have 29 seats between them and need at least five more to make the mark in the currently 67-member assembly. The AAP has 27 legislators.

Since neither of the two major parties have the requisite numbers, the legitimate thing would have been to announce fresh elections: the route that should have been taken by Delhi’s Lt. Governor, Najeeb Jung. Instead, the Lt. Governor chose to dabble in the muddy waters of covert operations. Jung sent off a letter to President Pranab Mukherjee seeking permission to call the single largest party to take a shot at government formation. On the back of what appear to be decidedly convoluted efforts to avoid a direct electoral face-off, comes the murky sting video.  Responding to a petition from Kejriwal on Tuesday, the Centre today told a five-member Constitutional bench of the Supreme Court that it would “consider the option of forming the government” when it received an invite from the President.

Notwithstanding the BJP’s central leadership distancing itself from the Dagar sting controversy, the party had recently suggested — though obliquely — its willingness to explore the option of stitching together a government in Delhi. The trajectory of events — Jung’s inexplicable and unjustifiable efforts to prop up a party without the requisite numbers and the BJP’s willingness to play ball — raises serious concerns. Both the Lt. Governor and the BJP should be aware that such sticky manipulations can only boost horse-trading and corruption. At a time when political and electoral corruption is tearing the fabric of Indian democracy, the BJP and Jung’s conduct should be placed under the scanner.

Can the BJP which rode to power on the promise of changing the template of politics and eradicating corruption, afford to be shying away from a popular mandate? What does such intent tell us about the party? Perhaps the BJP is apprehensions about the AAP’s still robust popularity among the people in Delhi. But that’s hardly an honourable excuse for indulging in wheeling and dealing. And then there is the Lt. Governor’s controversial role which points towards a more fundamental issue: the politicisation of the post of the governor. The appointees to these non-partisan high offices of power must desist from the temptation of ingratiating themselves with the ruling party of the day. The deadlock to the Delhi assembly can only be broken by immediately setting a date for fresh polls. Let the people in Delhi have their say. That’s the only way to acquire a popular mandate to govern.