Arvind Kejriwal to meet president to demand fresh polls in Delhi

New Delhi: AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal along with his party legislators will Thursday meet President Pranab Mukherjee over the alleged "horse trading" by the BJP in Delhi, and will demand fresh assembly elections in the capital.

Arvind Kejriwal

"All AAP MLAs meeting the President tomo (sic) at 6.30 p.m. to request him to dissolve Delhi assembly n (sic) hold elections," Kejriwal tweeted Wednesday. "BJP attempting horse trading in Delhi, desperately approaching our MLAs...," the Aam Aadmi Party chief and former Delhi chief minister added.

Earlier Wednesday, AAP legislator Bandana Kumari alleged that a "BJP worker" threatened her with dire consequences after she rejected his offer to join the party. "Sanjay Paliwal who identified himself as someone associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party came to my office and offered me a ministerial berth and promised to introduce me to (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi," Kumari told IANS.

"I told him that you have knocked at the wrong door. He threatened me and my family with dire consequences if I revealed anything about this meeting," she added. Kumari said she has complained to police and submitted CCTV footage of the incident.

On earlier occasions too, the AAP has accused the BJP of luring its legislators to join the party to help it form the government. With three BJP legislators being elected to the Lok Sabha, the strength of the Delhi assembly has come down to 67. The party's number has also come down to 28 from the earlier 31. A lone Akali Dal legislator is on its side.

Delhi has been under presidential rule since Feb 17 after Kejriwal resigned as chief minister over the stalling of the Jan Lokpal bill in the assembly. No party in the capital, where the assembly is currently under suspended animation, has staked claim to form the government and this might pave the way for fresh elections.