Senior AAP leader and advocate Prashant Bhushan
Activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan today said that he believes his Aam Aadmi Party or AAP may consider supporting the Bharatiya Janata Party in Delhi.
A day after the Aam Aadmi Party shook up Delhi's political landscape with a spectacular performance in the state election, there is no clarity over who will form the government. The BJP is the largest party but it needs five more seats to be in a majority.
The AAP founder Arvind Kejriwal has said that is no question of partnering with or offering external support to the BJP, but Mr Bhushan today suggested otherwise.
Making it clear that this was his personal opinion, Mr Bhushan said on NDTV, "If the BJP gives us in writing that it will pass the Jan Lokpal Bill by December 29 and set up Jan Sabhas (or public assemblies) in Delhi as promised by the Aam Aadmi Party, we may consider supporting the party."
Mr Kejriwal says the AAP, which has 28 seats, will serve as "a responsible opposition" if the BJP is able to form the government. He accused the BJP of trying to poach some of his newly-elected legislators, which the BJP has refuted.
If the BJP cannot manage the numbers it needs, Mr Kejriwal said his party is prepared to fight another election, but it will neither seek nor extend support to the BJP.
The AAP promised voters in Delhi an alternative to what it describes as the two deeply corrupt and self-serving main parties in Delhi, the Congress and the BJP. AAP leaders say aligning with either would be betrayal.
Reading the mood of the public, the BJP says it will not indulge in horse-trading and try to win over AAP legislators. The Delhi verdict has proved that people are hungry for a party with principles, and given that national elections are just months away, the BJP wants to signal that it is willing to abstain from the machinations it would take to form a majority in order to govern Delhi.
With neither the BJP nor the AAP insisting they will not try to form the government, the Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung now has to decide what happens next. An option is to have President's Rule and then get Delhi to vote again for its next government along with the national election.