Lone independent winner wants to be deputy CM

Realising that by the virtue of being the lone independent legislator in the hung Delhi assembly, Mundka MLA Rambir Shokeen, may be much sought after, he has said he would support either AAP and BJP provided he was made the deputy CM.

Mundka MLA Rambir Shokeen is trying to live up to his surname, quite literally.

Realising that by the virtue of being the lone independent legislator in the hung Delhi assembly he may be much sought after, he has said he would support either of the two parties — AAP and BJP — provided he was made the deputy chief minister.

That's not all. "I will consider going with BJP if its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi talks to me," he said. Shokeen says he is a big fan of the Gujarat chief minister.

Shokeen, a first-timer, clarified he was not making "any concrete" overtures to any party and he would not take any decision without consulting people of Mundka, located on Delhi-Haryana border.

The formation of a government remained uncertain with the BJP and AAP refusing to stake claim, saying they did not have the numbers to provide a stable dispensation. In such a situation, every MLA counts and Shokeen is fully aware of that.

Shokeen won the Mundka seat by defeating BJP heavyweight Azad Singh, the brother of former chief minister Sahib Singh Verma, by about 7,000 votes. AAP's Mundka candidate Krishan Kumar came third with 23,872 votes.

The sole Janata Dal (U) candidate to have won this time, Shoaib Iqbal, is another such commodity. But the two may not really be kingmakers. With 32 MLAs BJP needs four more and AAP with 28 MLAs needs eight more.