New Delhi : Activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal ’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday said it will seek a referendum by the people of Delhi on whether it should form a minority government in the city-state, reinforcing its image of being a party that’s different from established rivals.

The referendum, an unprecedented move by an Indian political party, will be completed by Sunday, Kejriwal told a news conference.

The year-old party, fighting its first election, performed spectacularly in the 4 December Delhi state elections, winning 28 out of 70 seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the single biggest party, but refused to stake a claim for forming the government because it lacked a majority.

Kejriwal told reporters the party will distribute 2.5 million copies of a letter inviting people’s views on whether it should form a minority government and hold 200 jan sabhas (public meetings) to gauge public opinion. People will have to reply “yes" or “no" in an SMS message by Sunday, 22 December. “We will make public our stand on Monday and convey it to the Lieutenant Governor," Kejriwal said.

He said the AAP had been formed to fight corruption rather than come to power, but added that the party will not shirk its responsibility.

The letter also seeks people’s views on questions like, “How can we take the support of the Congress, which looted the country? Why is the BJP, which has cobbled governments in other states, shying away from its responsibility in Delhi?"

In the election, the ruling Congress was reduced to third position with eight seats. The BJP won 31 seats—32 with an ally—and fell short of the 36 needed for a simple majority.

The AAP’s move to seek a referendum came after its political affairs committee (PAC) failed to take a decision on government formation. Nine senior members of PAC, including Kejriwal, Kumar Vishwas, Manish Sisodia and Prashant Bhushan, met on Tuesday morning, but could not reach a conclusion and called for a meeting of AAP members of assembly to take a final decision. Kejriwal announced the AAP’s decision to go to the public after the state legislators’ meeting.

After the Congress decided to extend unconditional support to AAP on 13 December, Kejriwal had written to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and BJP president Rajnath Singh, seeking their views on 18 issues, including passage of the Lokpal Bill for the appointment of an anti-corruption ombudsman, full statehood for Delhi, reduction of water tariffs and audit of power distribution companies.

The Congress then told the AAP that 16 of its 18 demands needed just administrative decisions and had nothing to do with Parliament or the Delhi assembly.

Political observers were lukewarm about the referendum move. “I am slightly disappointed with the AAP and its leaders because of the way they are behaving after winning so many seats in the Delhi assembly election," said Bidyut Chakrabarty, a political science professor in Delhi University.

“The initiative to write letters to the people is nothing else but an escape route. The senior leaders of AAP think they are doing the right thing. This is a ploy of the party to show they are close to the people. They should instead form a coalition government and expose the system from within. Writing letters is an attempt to buy time. If AAP doesn’t form government, they will suffer in future. AAP should take up the challenge and try to expose the system," Chakrabarty said.

Mint’s Gyan Varma and PTI contributed to this story.

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