Arvind Kejriwal meets Lt Governor Najeeb Jung, stakes claim to form government

NEW DELHI: After securing a landslide victory and being elected leader of the AAP Legislature Party, Arvind Kejriwal today met Lt Governor Najeeb Jung and staked claim to form the government in Delhi.

Kejriwal, who was accompanied by senior party leader Manish Sisodia, was with Jung for around 25 minutes.

After the meeting, Raj Niwas issued a press release saying the Lt Governor will now send his report with his recommendation to the President to enable government formation, a formality under the rules.

Kejriwal is likely to be sworn-in as Chief Minister on February 14 at the Ramlila Grounds.

The release said after the declaration of results, Kejriwal conveyed to the Lt Governor that he has been elected as the leader of Aam Aadmi Party Legislature Party.

Earlier, Kejriwal was elected the leader of AAP Legislature Party at a meeting of the newly elected MLAs.

Kejriwal's name was proposed by his close aide Sisodia, who himself won from Patparganj, and was overwhelmingly endorsed by the MLAs.

Addressing the meeting of the MLAs at the Constitution Club, Kejriwal warned the legislators against showing arrogance which, he said, was responsible for the defeat of both Congress and BJP.

"He (Kejriwal) said, Congress was reduced to zero because of its arrogance....BJP at the Centre does not have any major scam against it but it was also their arrogance that led to their defeat in the election.

"He warned us not to show any kind of arrogance through our action and to respect the kind of mandate we have got," said an AAP MLA.

Kejriwal asked the MLAs to work to fulfill the promises made by the party, Adarsh Shastri, AAP MLA from Dwarka, said.