AAP set to form government in New Delhi

Clear indications emerged on Sunday that the new political outfit Aam Aadmi Party will form a government in Delhi with the backing of the Congress party which it trounced in the recent assembly elections.

In hints that it may assume power on the back of a positive response to its week-long public referendum, the AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said they will meet Lt Governor Najeeb Jung on Monday to apprise him about the party's decision.

 Kejriwal, whose one-year-old party had its roots in the anti-corruption movement, said a final decision on government formation will be announced tomorrow after analysing the results of the week-long referendum through SMS, IVRS and email and from the public meetings conducted over the weekend.

"Though we have got the overwhelming participation of people during the public meetings and about 80 per cent of them have favoured that party should form the government but the final decision would be taken after a meeting of political affairs committee," Kejriwal told PTI.

After this, he said, he would be meeting Jung tomorrow at 12.30 pm. A civil servant-turned-politician Kejriwal held four public meetings in his New Delhi assembly constituency, and at all the places majority of people gave their go-ahead to form the government.

He said out of 128 public meetings held, people at 110 places said "yes" to formation of government with the support from the Congress while at only 18 places they said "no".

The deadlock over government formation in Delhi continued for nearly two weeks after the announcement of the results on December 8. The AAP has 28 seats while the Congress with 8 in a House of 70 has agreed to give outside support the BJP is the single largest party with 31 seats in its kitty.

Asked whether he would be able to live up to the promises in the manifesto, Kejriwal said the party would fulfil the "strong manifesto", which was prepared in consultation with experts.

The AAP leader said that some of the things which are in the manifesto can be implemented "within hours" of forming the government and it would be done.

Kejriwal accepted it was a unstructured way of conducting the referendum but it gave the party a rough idea about the people's view on the issue. In his address at the gatherings, Kejriwal said unlike other parties, his party wants participation of public on important issues and to bring real democracy. "Other political parties have forgotten the real meaning of democracy and they feel the role of common man ends with the casting of their votes."