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In a surprise move, Arvind Kejriwal says stepping down as Delhi CM

Sep 16, 2024 12:42 AM IST

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal plans to resign in two days, seeking public mandate ahead of early assembly polls, amid ongoing corruption allegations.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday that he will resign from the post in two days — five months before his tenure is set to end— and return only if he has the people’s mandate, as he threw down the gauntlet for the Capital’s high-stakes assembly polls likely to be held early next year.

Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal address party workers where he announced that he will resign from his post in the next two days. (Arvind Yadav/HT Photo)
Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal address party workers where he announced that he will resign from his post in the next two days. (Arvind Yadav/HT Photo)

Addressing party workers two days after he was granted bail by the Supreme Court in the excise policy case, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener said he was willing to face an “agnipariksha” (trial by fire) to prove his innocence.

“This [excise policy] case will go on for many years. Now I am in the court of people. After two days, I will resign from the post of CM. I will not sit on the CM’s chair unless people deliver their verdict. Your every vote will be my certificate of honesty,” he said at the party headquarters.

Kejriwal’s decision is likely to cause an upheaval in Delhi’s political landscape and add a new strand to the Capital’s electoral contest as the AAP goes into a huddle to elect a new chief minister. Kejriwal said that he will hold a meeting of the AAP’s legislative party to reach a consensus on the next CM. He ruled out the possibility of former deputy CM Sisodia taking over the post. Sisodia is also an accused in the excise policy case and was granted bail by the SC on August 9, after 17 months of incarceration.

“Till the elections are held, someone else from the party will be the CM. In the next 2-3 days, a meeting of the MLAs will be held, where the next CM will be decided… I was talking to Manish, and he said that he would take the deputy CM’s post if the public says he is honest. Now our future is in your hands,” Kejriwal said, with Sisodia, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, MP Sanjay Singh and state ministers Atishi, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Gopal Rai and party leader Pankaj Gupta in attendance.

People aware of the matter said that Atishi, Bharadwaj, Kailash Gahlot, Gopal Rai, and Imran Hussain were the likely contenders for the post, with speculation also rife that Sunita Kejriwal might helm the government.

According to party insiders, the decision for Kejriwal to step down was taken at a meeting of senior AAP leaders at his residence on Saturday. This is not the first time Kejriwal resigned as the CM before the completion of his tenure. In 2013, he took over as the CM for the first time with outside support from the Congress but resigned within 49 days. In the 2015 assembly elections, the AAP registered a landslide win, and Kejriwal was sworn in as Delhi’s CM, a post he has held since then. The party currently has 60 MLAs in the 70-member house.

Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21 and then by the CBI on June 25 over corruption allegations in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy. He was granted a 21-day interim bail in May by the top court for Lok Sabha elections campaigning. The BJP sought Kejriwal’s resignation after his arrest, but he remained on the post, with AAP leaders saying that people wanted him to continue running the government.

“I did not resign [earlier] because I wanted to save democracy. Apart from buying MLAs and breaking parties, they [the BJP] have made another formula. Wherever they lose elections, they file fake cases against the chief ministers, arrest them, and topple the government. They have filed cases against [Karnataka CM] Siddaramaiah, [Kerala CM] Pinarayi Vijayan, [Jharkhand CM] Hemant Soren, and [West Bengal] CM Mamata Banerjee,” Kejriwal said.

He added: “I want to request all the non-BJP chief ministers that if the Prime Minister files a fake case against you and puts you in jail, then do not resign. Run the government from jail.”

During his 26-minute speech, Kejriwal called for early elections in the Capital. “The elections are supposed to be held in February. I demand elections be held in November with Maharashtra elections,” he said.

Under Section 15 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, the Election Commission can notify state polls six months before the date of end of the assembly’s term. The current assembly’s term is completing on February 11, 2025. To be sure, the process to hold polls involves several steps ranging from the revision of the electoral roll to checking of EVMs. Experts highlighted this and said it was unlikely that Delhi polls will be held before schedule.

“Kejriwal’s resignation will lead to the dissolution of the cabinet but not the assembly... Without the dissolution of the assembly, the possibility of holding early election is low. The EC has to take a final call on this,” a former chief electoral officer of Delhi said requesting anonymity.

AAP leaders hailed Kejriwal’s decision, saying it showed that he was not hungry for power. “He is the only CM who is himself telling people to vote for him only if they see him to be honest. This is a big thing in Indian politics, and such morality is rarely seen,” Bhardwaj said.

Atishi maintained that the step taken by Kejriwal proved that he was committed to doing corruption-free politics. “Today will be remembered as a historic day in the country’s politics. No leader has ever said vote for me only if I am honest, otherwise, don’t vote for me. He cannot tolerate corruption and dishonesty,” she said.

The party’s rivals, however, called Kejriwal’s move an eyewash and said that it was necessitated due to the bail conditions. The grant of bail to Kejriwal came with the same conditions imposed by another bench of the SC in July—he cannot go to the CM’s office; sign off on official files, or make public statements about his role in the excise case.

“There is an SC order that he cannot go to the secretariat or sign any files. I believe the SC order ensured that he had to resign. The only question is why he is not resigning immediately,” Delhi BJP spokesperson Harish Khurana said.

A senior BJP leader said that Kejriwal resigned because he could not face the public. “There are different reasons for a resignation. You might take the decision because you have lost the mandate or on moral grounds. The third kind is when you cannot face the public. He should have resigned before. He may have done atma-chintan (self-reflection) while in prison,” the leader said, requesting anonymity.

Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav accused Kejriwal of doing political drama and added: “The SC has already imposed restrictions on him. This seems to be a part of the plan to consolidate the power within the AAP. There was very little time left in the tenure of the government anyway.” The AAP and Congress are part of the INDIA bloc but are likely to contest the assembly polls separately.

However, in his address, Kejriwal said that his decision was not influenced by the bail conditions. “In the last 10 years, these [BJP] people have left no stone unturned in imposing conditions. The LG imposed various conditions. The central government snatched my power by imposing one law after the other, but I did not let your work suffer. These conditions do not create any obstacle for us”, he said.

Experts said that Kejriwal’s move to step down and the demand for early polls were aimed at winning over the public/

“The reasons behind Kejriwal’s decision to call for early election appears to be an attempt to create public sympathy over the arrests of different leaders. He understands that he might be able to win over the voters now. As the time passes, the possibility of him gaining sympathy is likely to fade,” Sanjay Kumar, professor and co-Director of Lokniti at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) said.

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