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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Arvind Kejriwal flip-flops on Delhi polls, goes to jail in Gadkari defamation case
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Arvind Kejriwal flip-flops on Delhi polls, goes to jail in Gadkari defamation case

Kejriwal apologizes to the people for having resigned as Delhi CM and quitting the government in February

The AAP is now going to start its campaign for a repoll in Delhi where it won 28 of the 70 seats in the December 2013 Assembly polls. Photo: PTIPremium
The AAP is now going to start its campaign for a repoll in Delhi where it won 28 of the 70 seats in the December 2013 Assembly polls. Photo: PTI

New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday apologized for resigning as Delhi chief minister and bringing down his own government in February, as his party did a flip-flop while seeking to re-establish itself among grassroots supporters after a drubbing in the recent general election.

In an unrelated development, the AAP leader was sent to judicial custody by a lower court after refusing to furnish a 10,000 bail bond in a criminal defamation case filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nitin Gadkari.

AAP had called Gadkari corrupt in a list of politicians circulated in the run-up to the April-May general election.

The fledgling party, which lost all seven seats in Delhi in the general election after making a stunning debut in Assembly elections last year, later held a demonstration outside Tihar Jail in west Delhi, where Kejriwal will be lodged till 23 May.

Rohit Singh, counsel for Kejriwal, along with AAP leader and lawyer Prashant Bhushan, said the former Delhi chief minister did not seek bail in keeping with the party’s practice. Instead, Kejriwal gave an undertaking to the court to cooperate and appear before it whenever there’s a hearing.

He said no charges have been framed against Kejriwal yet and that the legal team may consider challenging the order, which had taken them by surprise.

Gadkari was among several Lok Sabha candidates in the 16th general election alleged by AAP to be corrupt. The party had published a list of the politicians and declared it would field their “best candidates" against them. The matter will be heard next on Friday.

Meanwhile, a day after reportedly asking Delhi’s lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung to delay the dissolution of the Delhi legislative assembly—apparently hoping to form a minority government once again, without going to the polls—AAP said it will not make any attempt now to form a government in Delhi without going for elections.

It marked a flip-flop for AAP. Till Sunday, the party’s official stand was that it wanted the Delhi assembly to be dissolved—it’s in a state of suspended animation at the moment—followed by fresh elections. But on Monday it drafted a letter to the Lt governor asking him to delay the dissolution of the assembly. On Tuesday the letter was sent to Jung and AAP delegates met him for a courtesy call. On Wednesday it said it no longer wanted to form a government, and returned to its demand for the dissolution of the Assembly and fresh elections.

According to Times of India, AAP had entertained the idea of forming a minority government with outside support—just as it did before quitting in February—without facing fresh elections, although it had quit the government. But it dropped the idea, no more than a theoretical possibility, after the Congress said it will not lend it support.

“After the Lok Sabha elections ended, wherever we went, people told us that we made one mistake... they support us, but we should not make any more (mistakes)," Kejriwal told reporters on Wednesday.

“Last time, we made a mistake by not asking people before resigning. This time, we will not decide alone. We prepared a letter a day before, which was sent to the LG yesterday (on Tuesday)...but now the situation looks like there is negligible chance to form government...so there is no point in holding a referendum," he added.

The party’s volte face is significant because it has demanded fresh elections in Delhi since ending the government. It had even approached the Supreme Court with an appeal to dissolve the House.

AAP is now going to start its campaign for fresh elections in Delhi where it won 28 of the 70 seats in the December 2013 assembly polls. “We will hold jan sabhas, we will go to the people and apologize to them. We will ask them to bring us back in full majority so that we can do developmental work," Kejriwal told reporters.

Delhi is under President’s rule. Fresh elections can only happen once the lt governor dissolves the assembly. The AAP drew a blank in Delhi in the recently concluded general elections.

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Published: 21 May 2014, 11:40 AM IST
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