Barely two days after he was granted bail by Supreme Counrt and had walked out of prison, in a shock decision Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced his resignation from the post of CM at a party meeting on Saturday (September 15, 2024).
“Two days later, I will resign as Chief Minister. I will not sit on that chair till the people announce their verdict. Elections in Delhi are months away. I got justice from the legal court, now I will get justice from the people’s court. I will sit on the Chief Minister’s chair only after the order of the people,” he said.
“I want to ask the people of Delhi, is Kejriwal innocent or guilty? If I have worked, vote for me,” he said, adding that a meeting of AAP MLAs will be held within the next two days to elect the new Chief Minister for the national capital.
He said he would go to the people of Delhi and ask for their support once again. Kejriwal also demanded that the elections in the national capital, scheduled for February, be held in November along with the polls in Maharashtra.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader said a member of the party will be made Chief Minister after his resignation.
In his address to the AAP workers, Mr Kejriwal launched an all-out attack against the Narendra Modi
government terming the latter as ‘more dictatorial than the British’.
He said he did not resign as Chief Minister despite being arrested because he wanted to save democracy. “They have registered cases against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. I want to appeal to non-BJP CMs, do not resign if they register cases against you. This is their new game,” he stated.
Kejriwal said he spoken to Delhi’s former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia who was also recently granted bail in Delhi’s now-scrapped liquor policy corruption case. “I spoke to Manish, he too has said that he will handle the post only after the people say we are honest. My and Sisodia’s fate are in your hands now,” he said.
According to party sources, Kejriwal held a meeting with top party leaders yesterday and told them that he had decided to announce his resignation. At another meeting at Sisodia’s residence, AAP leaders chalked out the strategy behind this move.
Responding to the shocking development, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha posted on X ‘This will put a full stop on BJP’s political game. I think he has given a signal that AAP MLAs will elect a new CM ‘.
Similarly, TMC MP Sagarika Ghose wrote on X “A principled and laudable stand by @ArvindKejriwal ji. Enough of the @BJP4India’s despicable plotting to bring down a popular @AamAadmiParty CM elected by absolute majority. Enough of the constant interference by the unelected @LtGovDelhi. Let the people decide on who will rule Delhi.”
Further, AAP’s Raghav Chadha soon after Arvind Kejriwal announced resignation said, “In a country where no one resigns even from the seat of a councillor, our leader Arvind Kejriwal ji has decided to give up the CM’s seat by facing the ordeal just because of corruption charges. Now the public will confirm that Kejriwal is a staunchly honest person. I am proud to be a worker of such a party.”
Meanwhile, BJP’s Harish Khurana questioned as to why the AAP leader was creating a scene out of it. “Why after 48 hours? he should resign today. In the past too, he has done this. People of Delhi are asking, he can’t go to the secretariat, can’t sign documents? What is the point then?”
‘I had told him not to go into politics’: Anna Hazare
Social Activist Anna Hazare said on Kejriwal’s decision to resign from the post of Delhi CM, ‘I had told him not to go into politics. Many times I asked him to do social service instead of going into politics but Kejriwal had something different in his heart. What was to happen today has happened.’
He said that he had advised Kejriwal many times for not entering into politics and instead, serve the society. “You will become a great man. We were together for many years. At that time I was repeatedly telling him not to go into politics. Social service gives happiness in life. Stay immersed in that happiness but he had something different in his heart and what was to happen today has happened,” Hazare said.
