Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Sunday that he was resigning immediately after his release from Tihar Jail. The AAP leader also demanded early polls for the national capital while he claimed he won't move to the Chief Minister's office before the people of Delhi issue him a "certificate of honesty". The move has been greeted with mixed reactions from political parties, with the Opposition BJP branding it a "PR exercise".
The AAP has now sought a snap election in Delhi along with the Maharashtra Assembly polls, which are scheduled for November, while BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar demanded the same. This strategy, which is somewhat like the 49 days Kejriwal spent as Chief Minister in 2014, might either be quite brilliant or a big mistake for AAP.
The AAP MLAs are likely to converge in Delhi within the next 48 hours to choose a new Chief Minister. He is said to consider his wife Sunita, as well as the Delhi Ministers Atishi and Gopal Rai, for the post.
What did Kejriwal say?
Today I have come to seek the opinion of the public whether you think Kejriwal is honest or criminal…I will resign as the chief minister two days from today and will seek people's opinion whether I am an honest man. Till they respond, I will not sit on the CM's chair…Earlier I will sit only on the CM's chair after the people give me a certificate of honesty". Want to give 'agnipariksha' (trial by fire) after coming out of jail, he said during a public address on Sunday.".
Kejriwal also said that he was put behind bars to weaken the AAP and try to create a government in Delhi. He says, "But our party did not break. I did not resign from the jail because I wanted to protect the Constitution of India. I wanted to fail their formula. The SC asked the central government why a government cannot run from the jail. The SC proved that a government can run from jail."
Will AAP gain from this move?
Kejriwal's resignation, likely to come on Tuesday, is not the first time. In 2014, President's Rule was declared for Delhi after Kejriwal had resigned within 49 days of being in office. The party received heavy flak and Kejriwal was targeted and protested against. During the 2015 election campaigns, the AAP had made consecutive apologies for "leaving the government".
Despite the outrage, this does seem to have helped the party, which went on to sweep the Delhi Assembly with a decisive victory in February 2015, winning 67 seats out of 70, then again with the win of 62 seats in the 2020 elections.
What can possibly go wrong?
Kejriwal and his former deputy Manish Sisodia have promised to get back to their offices "when people say we are honest." So, the AAP will need to elect a caretaker chief for the next several months at its MLA conference later this year.
Infighting in the party can happen due to the appointment of a new, interim leader. A recent example is the anointing of Champai Soren as Jharkhand Chief Minister after party chief Hemant Soren was arrested. The latter has been an MLA seven times, who quit the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha for the BJP recently and said he was embarrassed by the party leadership.
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