'Thank God, nightmare is over': Arun Jaitley on AAP govt's exit

New Delhi: BJP on Saturday came down heavily on Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), saying its government in Delhi was the 'worst ever' and the decision of Arvind Kejriwal government to quit was like a 'nightmare' finally getting over.

BJP leader Arun Jaitley said the Kejriwal government had no imaginative policy about governance and public welfare and it was only interested in 'cheap popularity' through 'gimmickry'.

He said most of the AAP MLAs were inexperienced, lacked maturity, had an agitational approach and were foreign to any form of governance.

"I have no doubt in saying that this was the worst ever state government that Delhi has seen... Thank God, the nightmare is over," Jaitley told reporters while commenting on the resignation of Chief Minister Kejriwal last night.

In his blog, the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha wrote, "The nightmare is finally over. The worst ever state government that Delhi has ever witnessed has resigned."

Claiming that 'clever politics and no governance' appeared to be the motto of the AAP government during its 49 days, he said, "It was a government without an agenda and without an ideology. It was a government committed to populism and demagogue."

He said, "It was a government without an agenda and without an ideology. It was a government committed to populism and demagogue."

Jaitley said while BJP was a bigger party in the Delhi assembly, AAP had no qualms in 'shamelessly' accepting the Congress support in order to prove the majority.

"This was a government without a mandate. It had only 28 seats."

Talking about AAP MLAs, the BJP leader said, "At times, they were outlandish. They had an agitational approach but were foreign to any form of governance...did the AAP government decide to expand the drinking water connectivity in Delhi?

Jaitley claimed the AAP crafted an exit route for itself after it started losing popularity. AAP had realised that its leaders sitting in Sachivalaya were 'a bull in a China shop'. They were more suited to the streets, the BJP leader said.

Questioning Kejriwal government's performance, Jaitley asked, "Did they seriously conceive of a scheme to increase the health care facilities in Delhi? Did they ever think of setting up new schools and colleges? What about taking Delhi Metro to the next phase? Did the idea of more flyovers and better PWD roads ever cross their thinking?"

He said these are all areas which add to the quality of life of those living in a large metropolis. "These are real areas of governance," he said. Jaitley claimed the Kejriwal government had "no mind space" for any of the issues flagged by him.

"It concentrated its approach only to agitational issues. It agitated against the Home Minister, against the Lt Governor, against the Commissioner of Police and against the African ladies. Its approach was to concoct falsehood and create imaginary enemies ...It had the arrogance to believe that only its leaders were honest and everybody else was compromised," he said slamming the AAP leadership.

He claimed that content of the Jan Lokpal Bill is not radically different from the central legislation but it wanted to create a false propaganda that its legislation was a revolutionary one in comparison to the central law.

"It decided to defy the conventional procedure for legislative approval in order to invent a pretext for resignation...the AAP government has exited. It defied the hopes of many who wanted to see an alternative politics emerge. The alternative politics was populism, demagogue, falsehood but no governance," he said.