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Delhi to be under president’s rule, AAP to launch nationwide rallies

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Delhi to be under president’s rule, AAP to launch nationwide rallies

With the AAP party’s sights now set on the Lok Sabha elections, the week-long ‘yatra’ (journey) will be organised at over 2,500 places in 332 constituencies.

Published: Sun 16 Feb 2014, 8:26 AM

Updated: Sat 4 Apr 2015, 12:36 AM

  • By
  • (IANS)

The central government on Saturday decided to impose president’s rule in Delhi following the resignation of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his council of ministers on Friday. The assembly will now be kept in suspended animation.

With its eyes firmly on the Lok Sabha polls, the Aam Aadmi Party announced a major campaign to clean up the corrupt system, even as Kejriwal clarified he had not quit with an eye on the general elections.

As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) shied away from forming the government in Delhi, the union cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, took the decision to impose president’s rule following the recommendation of Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung.

Jung rejected the 49-day-old AAP government’s recommendation to dissolve the assembly and call for fresh elections.

The cabinet decision will come into effect after the promulgation of a notification by President Pranab Mukherjee.

The decision will need parliament’s nod through a resolution under article 356 of the constitution.

Events leading to resignation of Arvind Kejriwal

Feb 3: Chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi cabinet cleared the draft of the Jan Lokpal bill.

Feb 6: Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran writes to Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung terming the Jan Lokpal Bill “unconstitutional”.

Feb 7: Unfazed by solicitor general’s opinion, Kejriwal said he will write to Jung on plans to enact the Jan Lokpal bill without the centre’s concurrence.

Feb 9: Kejriwal said the central government’s permission was not needed to pass the bill.

Feb 9: He also met his erstwhile mentor Anna Hazare at Maharashtra Sadan in the national capital to inform him about the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s plan to introduce Jan Lokpal and Swaraj bills in the assembly.

”To remove corruption from the country, (I) can sacrifice the CM’s seat a 100 times,” Kejriwal told a gathering, adding, “The government will fall if the Jan Lokpal bill and the Swaraj bill are not passed.”

Feb 10: Kejriwal met Jung and discussed various issues relating to the Jan Lokpal bill.

Feb 10: In a statement, the Lt. Governor’s office said to avoid any dispute in the matter and to obtain full clarity, Jung has referred the issue to the law ministry for a “final opinion”.

Feb 12: Union law ministry upheld Jung’s stance that centre’s nod is mandatory for introducing the Jan Lokpal bill.

Feb 13: Despite law ministry’s ruling, Kejriwal decides to introduce the bill in the assembly on the first day of the special session. However, the bill could not be introduced because of repeated disruptions in the house, which finally had to be adjourned.

Feb 14: Kejriwal and his cabinet ministers resigned after the bill could not be introduced. While 42 legislators - including from the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress, the JD-U and an Independent - voted against its introduction, 27 AAP lawmakers were for it. - IANS

Jung, in his report, also said that president’s rule be imposed as no party was in a position to form an alternative government.

He also forwarded Kejriwal’s resignation letter to the president.

The AAP government resigned on Friday after it suffered a defeat on the Jan Lokpal bill in the Delhi assembly.

The bill was a poll promise of the AAP government, which took charge Dec 28.

A day after his resignation, Kejriwal said the move to quit was not made with an eye on the general elections. He also said he was undecided about contesting the Lok Sabha polls.

In an interview to NDTV, the 45-year-old Kejriwal also refuted arguments that his government had failed.

“I wasn’t in a hurry to resign. It was a message to the voters that we wanted to keep the corrupt out,” he said.

The party also announced major initiatives to clean up the corrupt system.

It kicked off its “Jhaadu Chalao Yatra” across 24 states. The jhaadu (broom) is the election symbol under which the party fought the Delhi election, bagging 28 of the 70 assembly seats.

With the party’s sights now set on the Lok Sabha elections, the week-long ‘yatra’ (journey) will be organised at over 2,500 places in 332 constituencies.

The party also announced a nationwide anti-corruption rally to be launched Feb 23 by Kejriwal from Haryana’s Rohtak district - the home district of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda of the Congress. Assembly elections in Haryana are scheduled for later this year.

AAP leader Yogendra Yadav said: “The second rally will be held March 2 in Kanpur.”

Yadav justified Kejriwal’s resignation, saying the AAP has set a precedent as a government that is willing to quit.

“AAP was formed to contest the election on several principles, one of the foremost being the Jan Lokpal bill,” he said.

“As we were not allowed (to introduce the bill) and it became clear that in this assembly it was impossible for AAP to even introduce the bill on Jan Lokpal, the party complimented Arvind Kejriwal for taking a clear decision of resigning,” he added.

The elections last year had given a split verdict with no party getting absolute majority. The AAP formed the government with Congress support.

S.K Sharma, former secretary of the Delhi legislative assembly, said that under suspended animation, the Lt. Governor can ask any party to form the government if he sees there is a possibility of it.

“It means there will be no fresh elections,” he said.

“Though the MLAs will exist and continue to draw their respective salaries, the Lt. Governor will be the super boss to whom the bureaucrats will report,” he added.

The BJP, which emerged as the single largest party by winning 31 seats, held a meeting Saturday to discuss the party’s future course of action.

State president Vijay Goel said the party would launch an agitation at Jantar Mantar Feb 18 to expose the AAP.

“This (resignation) was scripted and planned,” Goel said.

The Congress, which with its eight lawmakers had helped prop up the AAP to reach the halfway mark in the 70-member assembly, blamed the AAP for its fall.

“Though AAP tried to tackle Delhi’s problems, I don’t think they succeeded because they started going beyond the constitution... and that is when they really failed,” said former chief minister Sheila Dikshit.



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