‘Opted for fresh election as it was the only way out’

Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday sought to clarify that he opted for fresh elections despite having requested the Delhi Lt Governor not to dissolve the assembly after Najeeb Jung told him government formation was not possible due to technical reasons.

‘I agree that I wrote to the Lt Governor (last week) asking him not to dissolve the assembly as I wanted to ask people on whether we should form the government,’ Kejriwal told volunteers at a meeting held here. 

‘The next day when I met the Lt Governor, he said that government formation was not possible due to technical reasons and fresh election was the only solution,’ he said. 

According to the AAP leader, after the Lok Sabha results, he had called a meeting of party MLAs. Of the 20 who attended, 16 legislators favoured government formation over election. 

‘Of the four who opposed government formation also changed their view due to public opinion. I also called a meeting of those who had lost in the assembly and Lok Sabha election and 90 per cent favoured government formation. 

‘This was when I decided to go to people and seek views on the issue and wrote to the Lt Governor not to dissolve the assembly for a week,’ Kejriwal said.

He added that under the current circumstances, it was not possible to form the government and early election was the way out. 

Meanwhile, party founder member and senior lawyer Shanti Bhushan raised the question over the lower court decision to send Kejriwal to jail. He justified Kejriwal’s decision. 

‘We won four seats in our first Lok Sabha election, compared to the other parties who have been almost wiped out due to the Modi wave. The Modi factor was the main reason for BJP’s massive victory in this election,’ said Kejriwal. However, he added that the party workers should not feel low as AAP voting share increased in Delhi and the party performed better in the capital compared to the Congress,’ said Kejriwal.

The former CM said people who voted for BJP in Lok Sabha had a mindset that they supported Modi as PM and Kejriwal as CM. He further stated that AAP will rejig the organisation structure in the coming days.