Aam Aadmi Party wins trust vote in Delhi

Arvind Kejriwal, chief minister of Delhi, today won the crucial trust vote in the assembly with support of 37 MLAs voting in his favour in the 70-member legislature of the capital state.

The confidence motion, moved by AAP leader Manish Sisodia, was passed by a voice vote with the Congress and the JD (U) backing it.

Closing the debate on his trust motion, Kejriwal presented the 17 points and reiterated that his government will not spare anyone involved in corruption cases.

He emphasised that the raison de etre of his party and the government is to end corruption, because the aam aadmi or common man wants honest politics and an end to corruption. "I have not stood up here to save a government...we want swaraaj, the people's rule, in Delhi," he said.

Except two, all the newly elected MLAs of Delhi assembly, including chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his cabinet, took oath as members of the legislative assembly when it met for the first time after the 4 December elections.

Congress leader Mateen Ahmed, who was named the pro-tem speaker, administered the oath to Kejriwal and other MLAs.

Urban development minister Manish Sisodia took oath after Kejriwal. Both of them, however, left the House for the day after taking oath.

The other five ministers Rakhi Birla, Girish Soni, Satendra Jain, Saurabh Bharadwaj and Somnath Bharti followed them.

In his short speech, Kejriwal made an emotional pitch to change the quality of politics in the country and said time had come to make life better for the aam aadmi.

While Congress leader Arvinder Singh Lovely assured Kejriwal of continued support of his party "till you keep taking decisions that benefit the people," BJP speakers led by Dr Harsh Vardhan attacked Kejriwal for accepting support from the Congress, a party who he has consistently described as corrupt.

He also cautioned Kejriwal that some of the swift decisions that he made over the last few days should have been made after a thorough thought.

He said that the AAP's populist moves are evoking "wah-wah" just now, but the praise will soon fade once it becomes clear that the policies are ill-advised. Dr Harsh Vardhan said that the free 700 litres of water guaranteed everyday to households "will force many to use their neigbours' toilets to save water."

The AAP has 28 members in the 70-member assembly while the Congress has eight members and the BJP and its ally SAD 32 members. The JD(U) has one member while Rambeer Shokeen is the lone independent member of the Delhi assembly.