NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal won the trust vote on Thursday for his six-day-old Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government with the backing of his erstwhile bete noir, a clutch of Congress party deputies.

The confidence motion moved by PWD Minister Manish Sisodia was carried after a four-and-a-half-hour debate at the end of which Mr Kejriwal appealed to the members to decide “on which side they are”.

“I want to present three issues. Delhi’s aam aadmi (common man) has taken the lead in telling the country as to which direction the national politics should go. They should also decide as to which side they are…,” the 43-year-old head of the minority government said.

The Congress on its part has promised support “even for a full five-year term” if Mr Kejriwal continues to pursue his promised pro-people policies.

Promising to take stringent action against anyone corrupt whether in the previous Congress government, the municipality controlled by the Bharatiya Janata Party and his own government, Mr Kejriwal said he was not seeking support of the members for his party or even the government but for the issues facing Delhi.At the end of the debate, pro tem Speaker Matin Ahmad asked those in favour to stand up followed by those against.

Later, he declared the motion as passed and congratulated the chief minister before adjourning the house.

The 28 AAP members along with seven of Congress, a lone Janata Dal (U) member and an independent stood in support while 31 members of BJP and one member of its ally Akali Dal stood against it.

The fate of the motion was a foregone conclusion after Congress leader Arvinder Lovely declared that his party’s seven members would support the government and said the backing would continue as long as the regime worked in the interest of the people, even for five years.

However, the BJP opposed the confidence motion and accused Mr Kejriwal of compromising with the “corrupt” Congress for power and becoming silent on the corruption of the previous Congress government.

Replying to the taunts by the BJP that he has stopped talking of the corruption of the Congress after taking support from it, Mr Kejriwal said: “I want to assure the house that anyone found corrupt whether those in the last 15 years of the Congress government or (the municipal council) or our own government, we will take stringent action against them.”

Giving a definition of who is an aam aadmi, he said that it was one who wanted to live honestly and by truth whether he was rich or poor.

“All of them can be called aam aadmi. Who were we? We were all outsiders, we were small people without any capability,” Mr Kejriwal said, adding that the country’s politics had been spoiled and abducted.

The politics has become corrupt because of criminalisation. Education, health and roads are in bad state because of corrupt politics, he said.

“We need to get together to cleanse the politics. We were challenged to enter politics, contest elections and make your own laws. The fight was impossible and there was zero possibility of victory and then we decided to take the plunge and cleanse politics.

“The leaders of big parties made the biggest mistake thinking where was the common man going to contest elections.

“Then we decided to contest elections. People used to make fun of us. Fourth and Eighth of December, a miracle happened. I was an atheist but now I realise there is God. People of Delhi proved truth can’t be defeated,” he said.Mr Kejriwal said that the people of Delhi took the first step of showing the nation the direction in which the nation could be liberated from corrupt politics.