Bhubaneswar: Arvind Kejriwal’s departure from Delhi is almost certain because the assembly has gone out of his hands. Now, it is not known when the number of his 22 MLAs in the assembly will gradually decrease to below 10. But in the meantime, after the assembly elections, the next target of the Bharatiya Janata Party is the MCD elections and in the MCD, the Bharatiya Janata Party has reached a level where a BJP Mayor will be elected in the MCD when the election for the post is held in April.
Already, the BJP has a majority in the standing committee and the speed at which the number of Aam Aadmi Party councilors is decreasing, it seems that by the time the next election is held the number of councilors of the Aam Aadmi Party will decrease to about 70.
The AAP had won 134 seats, but it has now decreased to 118.
It is interesting to note that the number of AAP’s elected MLA is never over 18 in any meeting convened by Kejriwal though 22 have been declared elected. This has made Kejriwal restless. Further, some of the elected members have also walked out of meetings in disgust.
It is alleged by AAP leaders that Kejriwal is not interacting with the MLAs, even though he called a meeting of party MLAs from Punjab.
The former Delhi Chief Minister and Convenor of AAP has surely deputed some of his trusted lieutenants to hold parleys with the newly elected MLAs and some losers. Saurabh Bhardwaj is meeting some MLAs, Atishi too has met some. But both top leaders Manish Sisodia and Arvind Kejriwal have not met directly any of the MLAs from Delhi.
All this is happening when the BJP is out to snatch the MCD—the next powerful body responsible for the development of the Metropolis whether it is about development of infrastructure, construction of roads, purchase of buses, construction of Yamuna River Front or depositing money in women’s accounts or free bus rides for women. The Lieutenant Governor of Delhi has already started it though a BJP government has not been formed so far.
The Government in Delhi in all likelihood will be in saddle by February 20.
The BJP is all set to implement the ‘clean Yamuna’ campaign, and the Ayushman Bharat Yojana immediately after forming the government to fulfil the guarantees it had made to the electorate during the election campaign.
At present the Aam Aadmi Party has 118 councillors–before the Assembly elections there were 121 councillors. But three AAP councillors have switched allegiance to the BJP.
On the other hand, the Bharatiya Janata Party gave tickets to eight councillors during the Assembly elections who have won. With this the BJP has 112 councillors in MCD at present.
Apart from the councillors, 14 nominated MLAs also will vote during the Mayor election who will be nominated by the LG.
During the Mayor election in November, 2024, there was a margin of only three votes between BJP and Aam Aadmi Party– cross voting was done by some AAP councillors. The BJP also has control over the standing committee which will impact the Mayor election giving a clear edge to the BJP to ensure election of its nominee.
On the other hand, of the three Rajya Sabha seats the Aam Aadmi Party has till 2030, Swati Maliwal has turned rebel. If the Aam Aadmi Party suspends or expels her, she will be free to join any party while retaining her Rajya Sabha membership as the anti-defection law will not be applicable on her.
In Andhra Pradesh and Odisha some Rajya Sabha MPs resigned from their respective parties, contested bye-election and got re-elected from the new party they joined to serve the remainder period of their terms.
Maliwal is reportedly in talks with the BJP to switch allegiance. In that case she will resign, get nomination from the BJP and will get re-elected from BJP. This will reduce the strength of the AAP in the Rajya Sabha.
The threat of arrest is hanging over many of AAP’s senior leaders for their alleged involvement in corrupt practices. It is rumoured that as many as 16 senior leaders figure in the list against who action is likely to be taken. The Lieutenant Governor has already sanctioned prosecution of former Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain in a money laundering case. Arbind Kejriwal and Sanjay Singh are already on bail in the Delhi Liquor Scam.
