Jammu: A day after the Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung recommended that the single largest party in the national capital should be given a chance to come to power to break the logjam, Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said that a call will be taken once formal proposal is received from the Lt Governor even as he dismissed any attempt to form government by poaching MLAs of other parties.
“It is LG’s call, BJP is single largest party in Delhi, If we get an invitation, we’ll think about it,” Rajnath, who is on a day's trip to the Jammu and Kashmir to assess the flood situation told reporters here.
He further said, “If invited to form government in Delhi, we will think about it. BJP will never form government by resorting to horse trading.”
BJP is likely to be invited to form a government in Delhi with Lt Governor Najeeb Jung sending a report to President Pranab Mukherjee seeking permission to call the single largest party to take a shot at power though it is well short of majority in the Assembly.
Yesterday, 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 national capital which is under President's rule since February 17, following resignation of the Aam Aadmi Party government which was in power for 49 days.
The Lt Governor added that though no party has staked claim to form government in Delhi, the BJP could be invited to take the reins as it is the single largest party in the Assembly.
Jung observed that all options for putting in place an elected government should be explored before contemplating holding of fresh polls.
Reacting to Jung's report, Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay had said that the party would examine if it was invited to form government.
However, sources in BJP said almost all its MLAs and senior leaders of the state were not in favour of facing Assembly election 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.
Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party and Congress have come down hard on Jung for his report and accused him of promoting "horse-trading".
Last week the parties had cautioned the Lt Governor not to take any "unconstitutional move" by inviting BJP to form government. Both the parties have been demanding immediate dissolution of the Assembly, saying keeping it in suspended animation will encourage horse-trading.
With agency inputs
