Except two, all the newly elected MLAs of Delhi Assembly including chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his cabinet took oath as members of the legislative assembly when it met for the first time after December 4 elections. Congress leader Mateen Ahmed, who was named the pro-tem speaker, administered the oath to Kejriwal and other MLAs. Urban development minister Manish Sisodia took oath after Kejriwal. Both of them, however, left the House for the day after taking oath.
The other five ministers Rakhi Birla, Girish Soni, Satendra Jain, Saurabh Bharadwaj and Somnath Bharti followed them.
Delhi Congress president, Arvinder Singh Lovely of the Congress was the lone legislator who took oath in English while BJP’s Nand Kishore Garg and Naresh Gaur took oath in Sanskrit.
First-time BJP MLA RP Singh was also the lone MLA to take oath in Punjabi. BJP MLA Anil Jha, who won by highest margin, took oath in Maithili. Congress MLAs Haroon Yusuf, Hasan Ahmed and Asif Mohammed Khan took oath in Urdu, JD-U’s lone MLA Sohaib Iqbal also took oath in Urdu. Rest of the MLAs took oath in Hindi.
Most of the MLAs including chief minister used personal vehicles to reach the assembly.
Arvind Kejriwal will face a crucial vote of confidence on Thursday in the Delhi Assembly which he may sail through with the backing of the Congress MLAs, notwithstanding reports of uncertainty surrounding the minority government.
Ahead of the vote, the Congress made it clear that it will continue its support to the AAP government and there was no question of reviewing the decision. “We had decided to support the AAP government from outside and we are not reviewing it. We stand by our decision. There is no threat to the government from our side,” said Arvinder Singh Lovely.
He termed as “misplaced” Kejriwal’s apprehension that his government has only 48 hours to deliver on the promises. AAP has 28 MLAs and needs at least eight MLAs to achieve the required majority of 36 in a House of 70.
While the Congress has eight MLAs, the BJP and its ally SAD have a total of 32 MLAs. The JD(U) which has offered support of its lone MLA to the government and an Independent account for the remaining two members.
— With Agency inputs
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