Days after walking out of Tihar jail followinga nearly six-month stint in custody in connection with the excise policy case, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal made his first visit to the new party headquarters on Sunday morning, where he thanked all the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers, and announced he will resign as Chief Minister in two days.
He said, “Despite the court giving us bail, the case will continue. I spoke to my lawyers. Till the case does not end, I will not sit on the CMs seat. After two days, I am going to resign from the post of CM. I will not sit on the CM’s seat till the people elect me and send me to the seat again.”
“Until the elections are held, there will be someone else as CM. Both Manish Sisodia and I will not become Chief Minister”, Kejriwal added. He said the decision about the new CM will be taken in a few days.
“I am ready for Agni Pariksha”, said Kejriwal, adding, “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.”
Earlier, AAP leader and former Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia said, “The BJP drafted a fantasy story named the ‘liquor scam’. The Supreme Court gave bail to Arvind Kejriwal and ended that story. 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.”
A day earlier, Kejriwal held a meeting with senior AAP leaders to discuss the campaign plan for the upcoming Haryana elections. According to a senior AAP leader, he will lead the party’s political charge along with former deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
In Delhi, sources said a Cabinet rejig to include Sisodia – Kejriwal’s number two both in the party as well as the government – would be the Chief Minister’s first priority, followed by “significant decisions on pending policy and administrative issues”.