India
Kejriwal says he will resign as Delhi CM within two days; BJP calls it a ‘PR stunt’ | India News – Times of India
NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday made a surprise announcement that he will resign within two days.
Addressing party workers after his release from Tihar jail, Kejriwal said he will return to his post only after he is re-elected by the people in the upcoming Delhi elections.
“I am going to resign as CM in two days. I will not sit on the CM chair. There will be elections in Delhi in a few months and I want to appeal to the people. If you think Kejriwal is honest, vote for me,” the Delhi Chief Minister said.
“If you think Kejriwal is guilty, don’t vote for me. Every vote you cast is a certificate of my honesty. If you vote for me and declare that Kejriwal is honest, then I will sit on the CM’s chair only after the elections. Till then, I will not sit on the CM’s chair. I want to give ‘agnipariksha’ after I come out of jail,” he added.
Kejriwal was released from Tihar Jail on Friday night after the Supreme Court granted him bail in a corruption case related to the alleged scam related to Delhi’s excise policy.
The Delhi Chief Minister alleged that the BJP cannot provide good schools and free electricity to people because they are corrupt. “We are honest,” he claimed.
“They are filing false complaints against non-BJP chief ministers. If they are arrested, I urge them not to resign but run the government from jail,” the Delhi Chief Minister said.
“I did not resign (after being arrested in an excise policy case) because I respect democracy and the Constitution is more important to me,” Kejriwal said, stressing that only the AAP can stand up to the BJP’s “conspiracies”.
During his speech, Kejriwal drew parallels between his recent experiences in jail and that of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh. He spoke about how he wrote a letter from jail, similar to Bhagat Singh’s practice, but faced obstacles in communicating with the outside world.
“95 years after Bhagat Singh’s martyrdom, a revolutionary prime minister went to jail in free India,” Kejriwal noted, recalling his own time in Tihar Jail. He recounted how he wrote a letter from jail, similar to Bhagat Singh’s habit of communicating with comrades. “Bhagat Singh’s letters reached his friends, but my letter, written to the LG on August 15, did not even reach him. Instead, I got a warning that my family visits would be stopped if I tried to write again,” he said.
“When I was in jail, Sandeep Pathak came to me one day. We talked about politics, but then he was blacklisted and not allowed to meet me,” Kejriwal added.
The BJP was quick to react to Kejriwal’s announcement, with spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari calling it a “PR stunt” aimed at rehabilitating his image.
Bhandari suggested that Kejriwal wanted to follow the Sonia Gandhi model of making Manmohan Singh a dummy prime minister and running the government behind the scenes.
“This is a PR stunt by Arvind Kejriwal. He has understood that his image among the people of Delhi is not that of an honest leader but of a corrupt leader. Today, the Aam Aadmi Party is known as a corrupt party all over the country. With his PR stunt, he wants to restore his image… It is clear that he wants to follow the Sonia Gandhi model where she made Manmohan Singh a dummy prime minister and ran the government from behind the scenes. They have understood today that the Aam Aadmi Party is losing the elections in Delhi and the people of Delhi cannot vote in their name, so they want to make someone else their scapegoat,” Bhandari said.
BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa alleged that Kejriwal is not sacrificing anything and has been forced to resign due to the Supreme Court verdict. Sirsa further alleged that Kejriwal had sought two days to convince all MLAs to appoint his wife as Delhi Chief Minister.
“Arvind Kejriwal has announced that he will resign after two days and become CM again if he gets a verdict from the people… This is not a sacrifice, the Supreme Court has said in the order that he cannot go near the CM seat and cannot sign any files. That is why you have no option, you are forced to resign because of the SC order. The people gave their verdict 3 months ago when you asked ‘jail or bail’, you lost all 7 (Lok Sabha seats in Delhi) and were sent to jail… Now he has asked for a two-day extension because he is convincing all the MLAs to make his wife CM… He is forced to vacate his seat because he is involved in the drink scam“, said Sirsa.
Addressing party workers after his release from Tihar jail, Kejriwal said he will return to his post only after he is re-elected by the people in the upcoming Delhi elections.
“I am going to resign as CM in two days. I will not sit on the CM chair. There will be elections in Delhi in a few months and I want to appeal to the people. If you think Kejriwal is honest, vote for me,” the Delhi Chief Minister said.
“If you think Kejriwal is guilty, don’t vote for me. Every vote you cast is a certificate of my honesty. If you vote for me and declare that Kejriwal is honest, then I will sit on the CM’s chair only after the elections. Till then, I will not sit on the CM’s chair. I want to give ‘agnipariksha’ after I come out of jail,” he added.
Kejriwal was released from Tihar Jail on Friday night after the Supreme Court granted him bail in a corruption case related to the alleged scam related to Delhi’s excise policy.
The Delhi Chief Minister alleged that the BJP cannot provide good schools and free electricity to people because they are corrupt. “We are honest,” he claimed.
“They are filing false complaints against non-BJP chief ministers. If they are arrested, I urge them not to resign but run the government from jail,” the Delhi Chief Minister said.
“I did not resign (after being arrested in an excise policy case) because I respect democracy and the Constitution is more important to me,” Kejriwal said, stressing that only the AAP can stand up to the BJP’s “conspiracies”.
During his speech, Kejriwal drew parallels between his recent experiences in jail and that of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh. He spoke about how he wrote a letter from jail, similar to Bhagat Singh’s practice, but faced obstacles in communicating with the outside world.
“95 years after Bhagat Singh’s martyrdom, a revolutionary prime minister went to jail in free India,” Kejriwal noted, recalling his own time in Tihar Jail. He recounted how he wrote a letter from jail, similar to Bhagat Singh’s habit of communicating with comrades. “Bhagat Singh’s letters reached his friends, but my letter, written to the LG on August 15, did not even reach him. Instead, I got a warning that my family visits would be stopped if I tried to write again,” he said.
“When I was in jail, Sandeep Pathak came to me one day. We talked about politics, but then he was blacklisted and not allowed to meet me,” Kejriwal added.
BJP calls Kejriwal’s resignation ‘PR stunt’
The BJP was quick to react to Kejriwal’s announcement, with spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari calling it a “PR stunt” aimed at rehabilitating his image.
Bhandari suggested that Kejriwal wanted to follow the Sonia Gandhi model of making Manmohan Singh a dummy prime minister and running the government behind the scenes.
“This is a PR stunt by Arvind Kejriwal. He has understood that his image among the people of Delhi is not that of an honest leader but of a corrupt leader. Today, the Aam Aadmi Party is known as a corrupt party all over the country. With his PR stunt, he wants to restore his image… It is clear that he wants to follow the Sonia Gandhi model where she made Manmohan Singh a dummy prime minister and ran the government from behind the scenes. They have understood today that the Aam Aadmi Party is losing the elections in Delhi and the people of Delhi cannot vote in their name, so they want to make someone else their scapegoat,” Bhandari said.
BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa alleged that Kejriwal is not sacrificing anything and has been forced to resign due to the Supreme Court verdict. Sirsa further alleged that Kejriwal had sought two days to convince all MLAs to appoint his wife as Delhi Chief Minister.
“Arvind Kejriwal has announced that he will resign after two days and become CM again if he gets a verdict from the people… This is not a sacrifice, the Supreme Court has said in the order that he cannot go near the CM seat and cannot sign any files. That is why you have no option, you are forced to resign because of the SC order. The people gave their verdict 3 months ago when you asked ‘jail or bail’, you lost all 7 (Lok Sabha seats in Delhi) and were sent to jail… Now he has asked for a two-day extension because he is convincing all the MLAs to make his wife CM… He is forced to vacate his seat because he is involved in the drink scam“, said Sirsa.
