New Delhi, Feb. 11 (PTI): AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal has called a meeting of the party’s newly elected MLAs at his residence on Wednesday, senior party leader Gopal Rai said.
In the meeting scheduled at 11.30 am on Wednesday, the AAP’s Leader of Legislature Party will be chosen by the MLAs, he told PTI on Tuesday.
Another AAP leader said the party was considering two dates for the oath-taking ceremony of the chief minister February 14 and February 16. Both in 2013 and 2015, Kejriwal had taken oath as chief minister on February 14.
However, it has not yet decided on a venue for the oath-taking ceremony, he said.
After the selection of the Leader of Legislature Party, Lt Governor Anil Baijal will be apprised about it. Thereafter, a notification will be issued.
The AAP stormed back to power in Delhi, winning 62 seats in the 70-seat Assembly.
PM congratulates Kejriwal
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday congratulated AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal for his party’s win in the Delhi assembly elections and wished him “the very best” in fulfilling the aspirations of the people of the national capital.
The AAP convenor thanked the prime minister for his wishes, saying he looks forward to working closely with the Centre to make Delhi a world-class city.
“Congratulations to AAP and shri @ArvindKejriwal ji for the victory in the Delhi assembly elections. Wishing them the very best in fulfilling the aspirations of the people of Delhi,” the prime minister wrote on Twitter.
In his response, Kejriwal tweeted, “Thank u (you) so much sir. I look forward to working closely wid (with) Centre to make our capital city into a truly world class city.”
The Aam Aadmi Party is set to form government in Delhi for a third consecutive term with the party getting a fresh mandate to run the city-state in the February 8 election
Rahul congratulates
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday congratulated Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for winning the assembly elections.
“My best wishes and congratulations to Mr Kejriwal and the AAP on winning the Delhi Assembly elections,” Gandhi tweeted.
The Congress has been decimated in the Delhi polls.
Delhi Cong. chief resigns
Delhi Congress chief Subhash Chopra on Tuesday resigned from his post, taking moral responsibility for the party’s debacle in the Assembly polls.
The Congress drew a blank for the second time in a row and reduced its vote share from 9.7 percent in 2015 to 4.27 percent this time.
“I take moral responsibility for the party’s debacle and have resigned,” he told PTI. He said it is up to the party high command to take a decision on his resignation.
BJP loses most seats where its leaders made controversial remarks
The BJP failed to make much impact in constituencies where its leaders made controversial remarks while targeting their opponents during campaigning for the Delhi assembly polls.
Only three seats, which were among 12 constituencies where Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath addressed rallies, were bagged by the BJP. The party won 8 seats as against 62 by the AAP.
During his hectic campaign schedule which stretched over four days, he addressed rallies for BJP candidates in Patparganj, Kirari, Mehrauli, Uttam Nagar, Dwarka, Tughlakabad, Vikaspuri, Rohini, Karawal Nagar, Jahangirpuri and Badarpur.
The firebrand BJP leader kept the protesters at Shaheen Bagh in crosshair at each rally and alleged that the AAP government had been supplying them “biryani”, for which the Election Commission issued him a notice.
Barring Badarpur, Karawal Nagar and Rohini, where BJP’s Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, Mohan Singh Bisht and Vijender Gupta emerged victorious, the party candidates were humbled by opponents from the AAP.
In Janakpuri, where BJP MP from West Delhi Parvesh Verma made a controversial remark during a rally, the BJP candidate, Ashish Sood, lost to AAP’s Rajesh Rishi by 14,917 votes.
“What happened in Kashmir with Kashmiri Pandits could happen in Delhi also. Lakhs of people gather at Shaheen Bagh, they could enter houses rape and kill your sisters and daughters. The people need to decide now,” Verma had said.
The Election Commission had barred Verma from campaigning for four days over the remarks.
Shaheen Bagh, a key anti-CAA protest site in south Delhi, had taken a centre stage in the BJP’s poll campaign.
Verma’s uncle and the party’s candidate from Mundka, Azad Singh, lost to AAP’s Dharampal Lakra by 19,158 votes.
In Rithala, where Union minister Anurag Thakur made the infamous “desh ke gaddaron ko” remark, AAP’s Mohinder Goyal trounced BJP’s Manish Chaudhary by 13,817 votes.
The BJP candidate from Model Town, Kapil Mishra, who was barred from campaigning for 48 hours for his controversial tweet likening the elections to an “India versus Pakistan match”, lost to AAP’s Akhilesh Pati Tripathi.
It will still take time for Kejriwal to emerge as national leader -- Political experts
It will still take time for AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal to emerge as a "national leader" despite his party coming to power in Delhi for the third consecutive term, experts opined on Tuesday.
The experts said Kejriwal would need to have a pan-India base to establish himself as a national leader.
The AAP is at present recognised by the Election Commission as a state party. It emerged as the principal opposition in Punjab in 2017. However, its national ambitions suffered a setback when its campaigns in Goa and in the last two Lok Sabha elections were unsuccessful. It won four Lok Sabha seats in Punjab in 2014 and just one in 2019, while Delhi voters rejected it both times.
Kejriwal also burnt his fingers in 2014 when he contested against Narendra Modi, who was the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, in the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat, losing by over three lakh votes.
Many saw a shift in the AAP's strategy after the party's drubbing in the 2017 civic polls in Delhi at the hands of the BJP, as it again focussed on its development pitch in the national capital.
"It is still early to say that because it was a local election and of course, there is a positive platform on which he contested but whether he can replicate it at an all-India level is difficult to say. His party doesn't have any substantial base or party infrastructure. It is premature," said Sanjay Pandey, a political analyst and JNU professor.
The AAP is headed for a landslide victory on Tuesday in the high-stakes Delhi Assembly polls, leaving main rival BJP way behind and decimating the Congress in a bitterly-fought contest.
Kamal Chenoy, JNU professor, said the Indian polity is "very complex" where people have different ideas.
"For Arvind to be an all-India leader would take time. But what he has done has shown that there is some different kind of argument by using whatever the people need and giving them empowerment so that is important. He will grow but becoming national is going to take time," he said.
Chenoy said these elections gave the AAP a kind of empowerment which will help it get support of other opposition parties that have been trying to put up a united front against the BJP.
"The BJP is upset because now Arvind has got his foot in the door and the AAP is going to move on from here," he added.
Jagdeep Chhokar, one of the founding members of the Association for Democratic Reforms, said the AAP has to do a lot more before they go national.
"Going national is a very different level of activity. Last time, in national elections they contested around 400 seats, they had no clue who they had nominated as their candidates," Chhokar said.