Kejriwal sets terms for govt, Congress says AAP shying away from responsibilities

Congress, while treading cautiously to Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal’s letter of 18 demands to Sonia Gandhi and Rajnath Singh, said it will examine letter and get back to him in day or two.

Zee Media Bureau New Delhi: The Congress, while treading cautiously to Aam Aadmi Party’s letter of 18 demands to Sonia Gandhi and Rajnath Singh, said it will get back to him in a day or two and asked the Arvind Kejriwal-led party to form a government in Delhi. Congress MLA Haroon Yusuf said AAP owed to their voters to form the government in Delhi. “They are shunning responsibility. They wrote a letter to Congress, tomorrow they will write one to the UN,” he added. "He has garnered vote by misleading people of Delhi. I would ask the youth, who have supported them thinking AAP would bring a change, that they should also demand that the party form the government and fulfil their promises," the former minister said. Reiterating that his party would only be providing outside support to AAP and matters of governance would solely rest with the latter, Congress MLA Arvinder Singh Lovely, said, “We are just providing numbers in Vidhan Sabha not interfering in governance, so why is AAP shying away?” “We won’t withdraw our support and the government won’t fall. Kejriwal can fulfil promises he made to people of Delhi,” Lovely added. Lovely termed the writing of letter to Presidents of the Congress and the BJP by AAP leader Kejriwal as a "peculiar situation" and "lack of knowledge as they were new to the political arena." "I would like to tell them that administration has two parts, Executive and Legislature, and we are supporting in Assembly. What they are saying has no relevance with the support to them as their 18 issues are part of Executive and Legislature has no interference in it," he said. Kejriwal should understand "if he wants to bring the power tariff down, they can do, if they want a probe against corruption, they can do that, they don`t have to ask the Assembly, it`s a cabinet decision," he said. Singh said their support does not mean interference in day-to-day work, "if they want to reduce water tariff they can do that as the Chief Minister is Chairman of Delhi Jal Board. "Government has to be competent enough to arrange funds for all these thing. If they feel they can`t arrange then they should not do it but we won`t be arranging funds for their plans," he added. Singh took a dig at Kejriwal, saying while he was a specialist on Income Tax and revenue, he should also hire some constitutional experts so that they could tell them about the procedures. He said a false notion was being spread among the people that "we would bring their government down, but they should know that there is a procedure that no no-confidence motion could be brought within six month of the formation of the government." "This is quite a long time to fulfill their promises -- which they said would be implemented within one month to six months of coming to power, and fulfil all their promises. And we are not insane that we would bring the government down, if they have fulfilled their promises," he added. The Congress MLA said that AAP should have shown their competency to bring any bill and get it passed. "I would request you not to mislead the people, who have elected you. Don`t shy away from your responsibility and form a government and don`t push the people to re-election," he said, adding "we have nothing to lose but you have as you got the mandate". "There is no need for 18 conditions, they should work for the public and accept Congress` help," said Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal. Shakeel Ahmad had earlier said, “We will consider the points in the letter and get back to him. The letter has been directed to me.”

Ahmed had earlier written to Kejriwal about the readiness of the Congress to support an AAP government from outside if it was prepared to form the government. "If AAP is ready to form the government, Congress party will extend support from outside," Ahmed had told Kejriwal. BJP however targeted AAP and termed the recent development as AAP`s "drama." "The language used by Kejriwal shows arrogance. He thinks of himself as country`s Bhagyavidhata," BJP leader Balbir Punj reportedly said. Kejriwal’s letter of demands to Congress and BJP president chalks down demands like stopping VIP culture should be stopped in Delhi, passing of the Janlokpal Bill, and complete statehood status for Delhi among others.