BJP legislature party leader and propsective chief ministerial candidate Harshvardhan on Thursday rejected Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung's offer to form the next government in Delhi, in view of the fact that his party, with 32 seats, was the single largest.
Addressing media here this evening after over an hour-long meeting with Lt. Governor Jung, Harshvardhan said he was honoured to have been invited by Jung for a meeting to discuss the possibility of the BJP accepting the offer to form the next government in the national capital.
However, he said, that he had handed over a letter to Lt. Governor Jung in which he and the BJP have clearly stated that since they had not acquired a majority in the recently-held assembly polls, they could not accept the offer to form the next government in the state. "I thank the people of Delhi for showing their vote of confidence in the BJP and its ally- the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). But the fact is, that we got only 32 seats. All of us know that 36 seats were needed for a majority to form the next government in Delhi. we fell four seats short," said Harshvardhan. "I wish to emphasise and reiterate that the BJP has been and will always champion the cause of good and honest governance. We believe in promoting an honest kind of politics. For us in the BJP and SAD, politics is an act of service to the people. We have all seen what has happened to the Congress Party in Delhi after 15 years of rule. They ended up with just eight assembly seats. That is because they practiced a dishonest form of governance and a poor kind of administration," he added.
"Since we do not have a majority, I have informed the Lt. Governor that the BJP is not in a position to form the government. We are ready to sit in the opposition and will continue to serve the people of Delhi. We are determined to provide good governance, good administration and service to the people,"Harshvardhan said further. "As you all know, if we had accepted the offer to form the government, we would have had to prove our majority in the House within seven days. That is the rule. Since we did not get a clear majority, we have no other option but to reject the Lt. Governor's offer. The BJP is not a party that believes in horse trading to get the required number of seats for a majority," he added.
He also said that BJP would be a contributing and positive opposition to whichever party decides to form the government in Delhi, but added that whoever did so, has the onerous task of establishing its majority on the floor of the House. Lt. Governor Jung had called Harshvardhan last night and asked him to meet him on Thursday.
According to reports, Jung called Harshvardhan over phone and told him that he wanted to discuss with him the possibility of government formation. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) , the single largest group in the 70-seat house with 31 members, as well as the AAP, which won 28 seats in its very first election, have refused to form a government.
The Congress says that a number of senior leaders of Delhi are of the opinion that the party should extend unconditional support to the Aam Aadmi Party to form a government in the national capital. AAP Convener Arvind Kejriwal, however, said that his party will neither take nor extend support to either BJP or Congress to form the government. He said, AAP is ready for fresh elections in the city.
Harsh Vardhan said, his party does not have enough numbers to form a stable government and is ready to fight the election once again.
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