AAP says awaiting Congress, BJP stand on 18 its points

Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal Sunday said he would wait for a response from the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to the 18 points he raised before deciding on whether his party could form the government in Delhi.

"We are waiting for their (Congress and BJP) reply on 18 issues. Let the reply come, we will decide after that," Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) founder leader Kejriwal told reporters.

He said his party wanted to have a consensus on all the 18 issues with the Congress and the BJP, and would think of a process for forming government only after that.

The AAP Saturday sought 10 days' time from Delhi Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung to decide on government formation, and asked the two parties to clear their stand on 18 issues it listed in letters to Congeress president Sonia Gandhi and BJP chief Rajnath Singh.

The points include: Regularisation of unauthorised colonies, pukka (concrete) houses for slum dwellers, 500 new schools, regular jobs for those working on contract basis with the Delhi government, full statehood for Delhi and control over Delhi Development Authority and Delhi Police by the state government and not the centre, and provision for people to make decisions at "mohalla sabhas" or neighbourhood gatherings.

Kejriwal met Lt.Governor Jung after the Bharatiya Janata Party, which netted 32 seats in the 70-member assembly, including one seat by its ally Akali Dal, Thursday conveyed it was not in a position to form the government.

The results of the Delhi assembly polls were announced Dec 8. The one-year-old AAP emerged the second-largest party, winning 28 seats.

The Congress, which won only eight seats, has offered the AAP unconditional support. In his letter to Jung, however, Kejriwal maintained that "no support is 'unconditional' in politics".