Letters: Why shy away?

A K Bhattacharya, in his column "Squandering a mandate" (New Delhi Diary, December 11), fittingly questions the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s decision to refrain from supporting or forming a new government after the Delhi Assembly elections. The public emphatically ruled the Congress and its leaders out of power but were not so sure about the suitability of the AAP for the job - they voted its candidates essentially because of their clean image. They put the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the AAP so that the two together give an efficient and honest administration. This mandate should encourage the AAP to prove its commitment to such governance by offering common programme-based support and serving as the watchdog for the masses.

If this arrangement works, it could predict a growing co-operation between the two parties at a national level. The nation will benefit from the synergy of the BJP's experience and the AAP's probity and secular engagement. By escaping from this role and thus forcing one more election, Arvind Kejriwal is playing an avoidable gamble that smacks more of personal ambition than of public good. Voters have given the AAP a chance to come out of "protest movement" - it will do well not to stew in its own juice.

Y G Chouksey Pune

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