New Delhi: In his first in-person address to party workers since he was granted bail by the Supreme Court in the excise policy case, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal said Sunday that he will resign as the chief minister of Delhi in the next two days.
AAP MLAs will pick a new chief minister, he said, calling for elections to the Delhi Legislative Assembly—to be held before February 2025—to be advanced to November this year to coincide with voting in Maharashtra.
Addressing AAP workers Sunday at the party office here, Kejriwal said, “I have come to aap ki adalat (the people’s court). Is Kejriwal innocent or guilty? If I’ve served you well, vote for me. I will only sit in the chief minister’s chair after people give me a certificate of honesty. I want to give ‘agnipariksha’ after coming out of jail.”
Arvind Kejriwal was first arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on 21 March and later by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on 26 June, in connection with their respective probes into the Delhi government’s now-withdrawn excise policy 2021-22.
He spent nearly six months in Tihar jail and was granted bail Friday by a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court on bail bonds of ₹10 lakh with two sureties. As part of the bail conditions, he has been prohibited him from visiting the CM’s office and Delhi secretariat, and signing official files unless necessary to obtain approval of the Lieutenant Governor.
Speaking at the AAP office here Sunday, Kejriwal said he hadn’t resigned earlier despite his arrest because he wanted to ‘protect democracy’. He urged non-BJP chief ministers not to resign if they are arrested, referencing cases against Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, and Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee—calling it the BJP’s new ‘tactic’.
In his address, the Delhi CM also launched a scathing attack on the PM Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre, accusing it of being more dictatorial than the British.
CM @ArvindKejriwal जी का बड़ा फैसला | LIVE https://t.co/R0DU1NhwZE
— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) September 15, 2024
“They (BJP) wanted to break the party, break Kejriwal’s courage and morale. They came up with a formula: break MLAs, break parties, buy MLAs. I did not resign like Hemant Soren. Their new formula is to arrest CMs of all states where they lost. They don’t spare any opposition leaders. They make fabricated charges and send these leaders to jail,” he said.
Kejriwal also revealed that he had discussed his decision with his former deputy Manish Sisodia, who too was granted bail in the Delhi excise policy case, on 9 August.
“Friends, I will resign from the post of chief minister after two days and I will not sit on this chair till the people give me their verdict. I will go to the people, to every house, every corner and until the people declare me innocent, I will not sit on the CM’s chair,” he said.
“I spoke to Manish, and he said he would take on the role only if the people declare us honest. Both our fates are now in your hands,” Kejriwal added.
Reacting to Kejriwal’s announcement, BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari termed it a “PR stunt”. In a similar vein, Delhi BJP secretary Harish Khurana dubbed it a “drama” and added: “Why wait 48 hours? He should resign today. He’s done this before. People of Delhi are asking—if he can’t go to the secretariat or sign documents, what’s the point?”
On the possibility of early assembly elections in Delhi, Khurana said, “We (BJP) are ready, whether it’s today or tomorrow. After 25 years, we will return to power in Delhi.”
Reacting to the announcement, Delhi Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit said Kejriwal should have resigned much earlier. “There is no question of him becoming chief minister again,” Dikshit told news agency ANI, terming Kejriwal’s announcement a “mere gimmick”.
Dikshit referred to bail conditons set for Kejriwal to add, “Maybe even the Supreme Court fears this person (Kejriwal) might try to tamper with evidence. The Supreme Court is treating him like a criminal. There is no correlation between morality and Arvind Kejriwal.”
Both the Congress and AAP are constituents of the INDIA bloc of opposition parties opposed to the BJP.
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‘Case will drag on for 10 years’: Kejriwal
Referring to his first stint as chief minister, Kejriwal told AAP workers at the party office Sunday, “I resigned after 49 days because I chose to stick to my principles. No one had asked me to resign; I did it on my own accord.”
“I have earned nothing in my lifetime. My bank accounts are empty, my party’s accounts are empty … Today, I own nothing apart from my honour and honesty,” he added.
He also said that he is “grateful” to the courts for granting him bail despite stringent conditions laid down for the same under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). “… They (courts) did what they could, there is nothing they can do beyond this.”
“Now this case will drag on. I asked my lawyers that I conscientiously do not want to sit in the CM’s chair unless I’m declared not guilty. They said this case will drag on for 10 years, some said it will take 15 years, so this case will go on,” he said.
Taking aim at the BJP, he said, “We are fighting against them resolutely because we are honest. That’s why they are determined to prove that I am dishonest. They accuse, abuse, demean me but BJP is not important for me. You, the people, are important to me.”
With elections to be held in Delhi a few months from now, he appealed to voters: “… If you think Kejriwal is innocent, vote for me. If you think I’m guilty, do not vote for me. Each vote of yours will be my certificate of honesty. If you make me win by voting for me and you say that Kejriwal is innocent, I will sit on the CM’s chair, else I will not.”
“You might think, why is he saying all this when he has just been released from jail, why is he resigning now. They alleged Kejriwal is a thief, a corrupt leader and cheated Bharat Mata (the country). I did not come to do this. I did not come to play this game of earning money from power and power from money. I came to do something for the country,” he said.
Adding, “When Ram returned from his exile after 14 years, Sita had to give an ‘agnipariksha’. After being released from jail, I am ready to give my ‘agnipariksha’.”
This is an updated version of the report
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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