New Delhi: With the minority Aam Aadmi Party government crossing its first hurdle in the Delhi Assembly on Thursday when its confidence motion sailed through easily with the backing of members from the Congress and Janata Dal (United), and an Independent, it now faces another challenge: to get its nominee, M.S. Dhir, elected to the post of Assembly Speaker.
While connecting with the common man by speaking of their woes, insecurities and complete disdain for the political class, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s speech on the trust motion was devoid of hyperbole and personal attacks.
He smartly said he did not want the numbers for his government but wanted to know who all supported the AAP in its mission to rid the political system of corruption.
Battle for Speaker chair today
Before the trust motion was passed, Kejriwal, in his 25-minute speech, assured that his government would not spare the corrupt, be they leaders from the previous government, the MCD, or his own party. "Everyone will be brought to book."
The AAP now has to get its Jangpura MLA, Dhir, elected to the post of Speaker on Friday. The Congress has so far maintained that its support to the AAP was only for its manifesto.
It is to be seen whether the Congress backs Dhir’s candidature for Speaker. Kejriwal himself had said the Speaker’s election was not a challenge for his party. "Anyone can become Speaker. It makes no difference to us," he added.
The BJP has fielded its seniormost member, Jagdish Mukhi, for Speaker, party leader Harsh Vardhan told this newspaper. Mukhi had refused to preside as a pro tem Speaker. Even JD(U) leader Shoiab Iqbal had refused the offer of pro tem Speaker.
It was finally Congress MLA Mateen Ahmed who agreed to preside over the proceedings of the trust motion.
During the debate, legislators from the BJP engaged in a nasty slanging match with Iqbal, impelling a rebuke from the Chair and a warning that security would be called in.
While seeking support on the trust motion, Kejriwal said leaders of different political parties used to mock AAP members. "They did not believe in our spirit and challenged us to fight elections. But they were wrong. Who would have thought that a one-year-old party like ours would win 28 seats? December 8 witnessed a miracle. I didn’t believe in God, but now I do," the CM said.
"I want to present three issues. Delhi’s aam aadmi (common man) has taken the lead in telling the country in which direction national politics should go. They should also decide on which side they are in the fight between truth and honesty in politics and whether they want to participate in it."
The fate of the motion was a foregone conclusion after Congress leader Arvinder Lovely declared that his party’s seven members would support the government and that the backing would continue as long as the regime worked in the interest of the people, even for five years.
Lovely said his party supported the government to avoid forcing another election on the people of Delhi. At the same time, he attacked the government over its recent decisions on enlarging the subsidy on power and free supply of water, saying it was the House that could decide to shift subsidy from one head to another, and not the government.
The BJP opposed the confidence motion and accused Kejriwal of compromising with the "corrupt" Congress for power and becoming silent on the corruption of the previous Congress government. BJP leader Harsh Vardhan alleged the AAP government had ordered the CAG to audit private power companies just to blackmail the Congress to vote in its favour.
"A party which Kejriwal used to refer to as the most corrupt party, the party against which he contested elections, the party against which he said that if elected to power he would send corrupt ministers to jail and would unearth all unfair trades of that government, he has taken support of that party," Dr Vardhan said, adding the country wanted to know what was Kejriwal’s compulsion to form a coalition with the same party. Attacking the AAP’s decisions on water and electricity, the BJP leader said the urgency shown by the AAP in implementing populist measures was not reflected in taking on the corrupt.
Next: ‘Poll results cause for introspection’
‘Poll results cause for introspection’
New Delhi: BJP on Thursday accepted assembly election results in Delhi are a “cause for introspection” as people now judge political parties “more harshly” and expect credibility from them even as it charged Congress with having failed on this front as it is mired in corruption cases.
Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley today said in an article posted on the BJP website that the lesson for parties in 2014 is that the bar of expectation has been raised higher by the people and they are judging “harshly” both persons in public life and the quality of governance. Though Jaitley attacked Congress, saying Delhi elections proved the government here had lost credibility and hence fared badly, he said BJP also needs to introspect.
He reasoned that since Delhi was the "epicenter of the anti-corruption movement" in the past three years and Congress failed miserably on this count, it ended up being a clear loser.
Anna: Right steps
Anna Hazare on Thursday congratulated Arvind Kejriwal for winning the trust vote in the Delhi Assembly, saying he is taking the “right steps” but cautioned that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) still has a long way to go. “I think Arvind Kejriwal is taking the right steps,” Hazare told reporters when his response was sought on Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal sailing through the confidence motion.
“I congratulate the party but it has still to go a long way,” the social activist said, hoping that a good and comprehensive Lokayukta law will be adopted by all the states to combat corruption at all levels.
Sedition case withdrawn
Less than a week after Arvind Kejriwal took oath as Delhi’s Chief Minister, a case of sedition filed against him for alleged remarks against parliamentarians was on Thursday withdrawn with the complainant saying he was happy with the AAP chief’s work in office. Vibhor Anand, a law student, withdrew his complaint filed against Kejriwal in 2012 for his alleged remarks at a rally in Ghaziabad that Parliament was filled with “murderers, rapists and dacoits”.
Jhadu for sale online
Once a humble household cleaning tool, the ‘jhadu’ gained star status after the Aam Aadmi Party’s rise to power and now it is set to make its online debut with e-Commerce firm Tradus selling it on its website. Tradus.com, a location-based online marketplace, will sell ‘jhadu’ (brooms) — AAP’s poll symbol — for Rs 5 through its website. “With this, all Aam Aadmis can join the movement for a corruption-free Delhi and celebrate the birth of a new India,” Tradus said in a statement. The promotional price of Rs 5 would be valid for the first 1,000 orders and will be increased later.
