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17-09-2024
Bureau Report + Agencies
NEW DELHI: Indian opposition leader Arvind Kejriwal says he will resign as chief minister of the capital New Delhi’s regional government, a day after his release from prison on bail in a corruption case.
“Today I have come to ask the public whether you consider Kejriwal honest or a criminal… I will resign from the post of CM (Chief Minister) two days from today and ask people whether I am honest,” he said on Sunday.
A fierce critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kejriwal, 55, is a former anti-corruption crusader whose decade-old Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) quickly rose to mainstream politics, although its clout is relatively small compared to older opposition parties. He has served as Delhi’s chief minister since 2015.
On Friday, he was granted bail by India’s Supreme Court and he left the prison the next day, six months after being detained in relation to alleged irregularities in the capital city’s liquor policy.
He was bailed on a million-rupee ($11,920) bond on conditions that he would not make public comment on the merits of the case against him, would not visit his office, and would refrain from signing official files.
AAP had expected that Kejriwal’s release from prison would allow him to campaign as a chief minister in regional elections next month in the northern state of neighboring Haryana, and in Delhi early next year but Kejriwal said he would only return to the post if people certify his honesty by voting for him in the upcoming Delhi election.
“I won’t sit on CM’s chair… I will only sit on CM’s chair after people give me a certificate of honesty,” he said on Sunday, calling on the Election Commission of India to bring forward the Delhi election to November from February 2025.
Kejriwal said his party, a part of a broad alliance of opposition parties called INDIA will hold a meeting later to decide who will take over his position.
Kejriwal was first taken into custody in March by the Enforcement Directorate, India’s financial crime-fighting agency, weeks before the country’s national elections, in relation to Delhi’s liquor policy.
Although he was granted bail in that case in July, he remained in detention due to his arrest the previous month by the federal police in another corruption case related to the same policy.
Kejriwal and AAP have repeatedly denied the allegations, saying the cases are “politically motivated”.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a fondness for abbreviations and acronyms that create buzz around his government schemes.
Last week, Modi’s political opponents did exactly that as they announced a new alliance called “INDIA” to deny Modi a third straight win and defeat his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in next year’s election.
The acronym, which stands for Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, comprises 26 opposition parties so far. More parties could join the alliance ahead of the general elections due by May.
The INDIA is led by the Indian National Congress party which once dominated the country’s politics.
The election battle is between “Narendra Modi and INDIA, his ideology and INDIA,” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said at a two-day conclave of the alliance in Bengaluru on July 18. “India always wins all fights.”
Many say Gandhi’s 136-day march on foot across the length of the country shot India’s grand old party back into political prominence.
