New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India has asked Delhi's Lt Governor Najeeb Jung to take a final call on the fate of Delhi assembly within five weeks.
The court has asked Jung either to explore the possibility of government formation or dissolve the assembly so that fresh elections could be held in the national capital. The SC gave these instructions while hearing a petition filed by AAP for holding fresh elections in Delhi.
Can Delhi have a government if the present assembly is to be revived? Which party can form the government and will that be a stable government even if a govt is formed? These questions can't be answered easily under present circumstances.
The numbers in Delhi assembly suggest that government formation is not an easy task for anybody. BJP alliance had won 32 seats but presently it's number is down to 28 as three of its members- Dr Harsh Vardhan, Ramesh Bidhuri and Parvesh Verma – have been elected to 16th Lok Sabha. AAP had won 28 seats but now it has 27 members only because Lakshmi Nagar MLA Vinod Kumar Binny is no longer with the party. The Congress has got 8 MLAs in the house.
Can the BJP form the government? Satish Upadhyay, Delhi BJP chief, in an interview to India TV Digital had recently said that his party is ready to explore all options. But are the numbers adding up? The answer is NO. The only way BJP can form a government is to create splits in either AAP or Congress.
Since a majority of elected MLAs are not in favour of dissolving the assembly given the uncertainty over their re-election, splits can't be ruled out completely irrespective of what these leaders publically say. This is something that even Satish Upadhyay admitted in his interview to India TV Digital.
But is the BJP ready for going so far because if it happens, the party can't escape from the charges of horse trading. And there is an interesting intra-party tussle going on within BJP. If party sources are to be believed then the Delhi BJP leaders and MLAs are in favour of government formation because of two reasons.
