New Delhi: As expected, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government led by Arvind Kejriwal successfully passed a vote of confidence in the Delhi Assembly during the Budget session on Saturday.
Out of the 62 AAP MLAs, 54 were present during the voting process. Kejriwal stated that there were no defections among the AAP Members of Legislative Assembly. “Two MLAs are in jail, some unwell and some out of station,” the Delhi CM added.
The Delhi CM mentioned that while the AAP government holds a majority in the House, it deemed it necessary to introduce the motion of confidence due to the BJP’s stance of “trying to poach party MLAs and topple his government.” Kejriwal claimed that a number of his party’s MLAs informed him about being approached and tempted with monetary offers to defect by the “BJP people”, reported PTI.
The trust vote in the Delhi assembly coincides with the day when Kejriwal appeared via video conferencing before the Rouse Avenue Court in response to a complaint filed by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) regarding his purported failure to comply with its summons.
“Today, I wanted to come (to the court) but then the confidence motion came. Also, the budget session (of the assembly is ongoing. It will go on till March 1. So please give any date after that,” said the AAP national convenor.
During his address to the House, the Delhi CM highlighted that the AAP is the primary contender against the BJP, which is why it is facing opposition from various quarters. “The way they (BJP) have attacked the AAP and arrested our ministers; people across the country are aware of this.
They think that people are fool, but they are not. Now discussions are being held in parks and people are asking ‘does PM Modi want to crush Arvind Kejriwal’? Even children are asking this question because they have arrested so many of our ministers,” Kejriwal added.