In a shocking announcement, Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday that he will step down as Delhi Chief Minister in the next two or three days, days after walking out of Tihar Jail in an alleged money laundering case linked to the liquor policy scam.
“I am going to resign from the CM position after two days,” the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor said while addressing the party workers in Delhi.
Kejriwal added that he will not sit on the CM chair until the people give their verdict, and he will go to every house and street and not sit on the CM chair till he gets a verdict from the people. The Assembly election to Delhi is due early next year.
Attacking the BJP government, Kejriwal said, “They sent me to jail because their goal was to break the AAP and the courage of Kejriwal. They thought they would break our party and form a government in Delhi after jailing me. 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 Supreme Court asked the central government why a government cannot run from jail. The SC proved that a government can run from jail,” he added.
While addressing the gathering, Kejriwal appealed to the people of Delhi to cast their vote in his favour if they feel that Kejriwal is an honest leader in the coming Assembly elections.
“If you think I am honest, vote for me in large numbers. I will sit on the CM’s chair only after being elected,” he said. The elections are supposed to be held in February, he added.
Kejriwal demanded elections be held in November with Maharashtra elections. Till elections are held, someone else from the party will be the Chief Minister, the AAP chief said.
In the next 2-3 days, a meeting of the MLAs will be held, where the next CM will be decided, Kejriwal asserted.
Senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia, addressing the workers and MLAs at the party office in Delhi before Kejriwal’s resignation announcement, said the BJP drafted a fantasy story named the ‘Liquor Scam’. The Supreme Court gave bail to Arvind Kejriwal and ended that story, he added.
“It is a happy ending for us and a sad ending for the BJP. They thought they would keep Arvind Kejriwal jailed till the Delhi elections but their stories were proven to be wrong in the court, and today Arvind Kejriwal and I are out of jail,” Sisodia said.
AAP MP Raghav Chadha said Kejriwal had asked for votes in the name of work in 2020 and said that if “I have worked then vote for me, if I have not worked then do not vote for me.”
The people of Delhi will declare the Chief Minister honest by voting for AAP and in the upcoming 2025 Delhi elections, the people of Delhi will declare their Chief Minister honest through that election, Chadha added.