NEW DELHI // Four months after the Aam Aadmi Party resigned from power in Delhi, the Indian capital remains without a government and with no definite end to this leaderless spell in sight.
The last chief minister, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal, quit in mid-February, claiming that the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – the other main parties in the Delhi legislature – were obstructing his government.
Ever since, Delhi has been administered by its lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung, an unelected official. In such a situation – known as President’s Rule – the federal government controls Delhi through the office of Mr Jung.
The decision of when to call a fresh election is left to the federal government, now led by the BJP. but president’s rule has no time limit and may continue indefinitely.
Ashok Ganguli, a Delhi-based political analyst, noted that the capital is a special case – not really similar to a full-fledged state, in that some of its functions are even ordinarily the preserve of the federal government. Delhi’s police force, for instance, is controlled by the federal home ministry.
"So the concern that there isn't an elected government now isn't quite as heightened as it would be in a bigger state," Mr Ganguli told The National. "But yes, sooner or later, we'll have to have an election."
During elections held last December, the BJP won 31 out of the 70 seats in the Delhi legislature. The Congress won eight seats, the AAP won 28, and other smaller parties won the remaining seats.
Mr Kejriwal accepted outside support from the Congress to gain majority backing for a government formed by his party. But he quit after 49 days, claiming that the other parties were blocking an anti-corruption bill that his government was trying to pass.
Technically, it is still possible for the AAP and the Congress to come together again and bid to form the government. Equally, the BJP can attempt to convince five other legislators to cross over and support its own attempt at power.
None of the parties have made any firm moves in this direction, however.
“We are not forming the government in Delhi,” Nitin Gadkari, a senior BJP leader and the transport minister in Narendra Modi’s newly elected federal government, said last week. “There is no proposal to form a government in Delhi, nor any discussion.”
The BJP, which swept to power in national elections held in April and May, is likely to ride a similar wave of popular support if local polls are held in Delhi soon, Mr Ganguli said.
This could deliver further setbacks to the Congress and the AAP, given their disastrous performance in the national polls.
In such a fraught situation, several rumours have begun to circulate within Delhi’s political circles.
Legislators from the AAP have claimed that the BJP has tried to to get them to defect. “I challenge the BJP to split the AAP by offering money and ministerial berth to its [legislators],” Mr Kejriwal said during a speech on Sunday.
“BJP leaders, you are living in a dream. You can’t break the AAP.”
Another rumour, reported by the Indian Express newspaper two weeks ago, alleged that the Congress and the AAP were holding backroom talks to form a new government.
But Haroon Yusuf, a senior Congress leader in Delhi, denied the report.
"I have been hearing such rumours, but we are not considering support to AAP," Mr Yusuf told the Indian Express.
Meanwhile, the lack of an elected government has been blamed for Delhi’s heightened power and water shortages this summer.
Ramesh Bidhuri, the general secretary of the BJP in Delhi, accused Mr Jung of failing to deal with the power shortage. “His removal should be considered if the situation does not improve in the next few days,” he said last week.
Mr Kejriwal, on the other hand, accused the BJP-led federal government of being “unable to solve the power issue” and wondered why it had not called for fresh polls.
“I challenge them to fight the elections again,” he said. “We are sure we will come to power with a majority this time.”
Delhi could have voted in parallel with the national election, but Mr Ganguli believes the previous Congress-led federal government, apprehensive about how well the BJP would do, avoided scheduling Delhi’s polls at the same time.
“I think the BJP is now waiting for a convenient time to announce election dates, and this will probably be after the budget is presented” on July 10, Mr Ganguli said. “Possibly the Delhi election will be held alongside the Maharashtra elections, which are likely to be held in November.”
ssubramanian@thenational.ae
