Why has Arvind Kejriwal decided to resign as Delhi chief minister?
The move is aimed at weakening the BJP’s claims that him and his party were corrupt.
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Arvind Kejriwal’s decision to resign as the Delhi chief minister, and take the post back only after a fresh mandate, is aimed at blunting the Bharatiya Janata Party’s line of attack that he and the Aam Aadmi Party are corrupt, political observers told Scroll.
On Sunday, less than 48 hours since being released on bail in the Delhi liquor policy case, Kejriwal sprung a surprise by announcing that he will resign from the chief minister’s post in two days. “I will not sit on the chief minister’s chair till the people pronounce their verdict,” he said while addressing his party workers in the national capital. He also demanded that the Delhi Assembly elections be held in November, three months before February 2025, when the polls were expected to be held.
Attack on its reputation
Since 2022, Kejriwal, his former deputy Manish Sisodia, party MP Sanjay Singh and the AAP itself have been accused of corruption and money laundering in the liquor policy case. The Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation have alleged that the Kejriwal government modified Delhi’s now-scrapped excise policy to facilitate monopoly and cartelisation of liquor trade in the capital in lieu of bribes.
With Kejriwal’s release on Friday, all AAP leaders who were jailed in the case are...
