Arvind Kejriwal to resign as Delhi CM, demands early elections, AAP leader to take over till then: Key takeaways

Delhi will soon have a new chief minister. Incumbent Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is out on bail, said on Sunday that he will resign in the next two days. He said an Aam Aadmi Party (AA) leader would take over as the chief minister and also demanded early assembly elections in Delhi. Delhi Assembly Election is scheduled to take place in February 2025.

Here are top quotes from Arvind Kejriwal's speech on Sunday:

1. Kejriwal said he didn't resign after his arrest in connection with the Delhi excise policy case because "I respect democracy; Constitution supreme for me".

2. Kejriwal said, "I am going to resign after two days." He said he won't sit on the CM's chair until the people of Delhi approve him as honest and upright. "I will only sit on CM's chair after people give me certificate of honesty; want to give 'agnipariksha' after coming out of jail," he said.

3. Kejriwal said AAP MLAs will hold a meeting in the next couple of days. "An AAP leader will take over as CM," he said.

4. Kejriwal demanded earlier assembly elections in Delhi. "Delhi election is due in February 2025 but I demand elections in the national capital be held in November [this year] with Maharashtra," CM Kejriwal said.

5. Kejriwal took a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying, "They [BJP] slap false cases against non-BJP CMs. Only AAP can stand up to their conspiracies. If held, urge such CMs not to resign."

6. Arvind Kejriwal alleged that he wrote only one letter to Delhi L-G VK Saxena from Tihar jail. He said the letter was not delivered and he was issued a warning instead. “When Shaheed Bhagat Singh was in jail, he wrote letters to many people and the British sent these letters to the people outside,” Kejriwal said.

"But when I went to jail, I wrote only one letter to the L-G, requesting him that on August 15, Atishi should be allowed to hoist the flag in my place. But that letter was not delivered to the L-G and a warning was issued that if you write a letter to the L-G, your meeting with the family will be stopped," Kejriwal alleged.

The Supreme Court recently granted bail to Arvind Kejriwal in connection with a case lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in excise policy matter. He was earlier released on interim bail in a money-laundering case filed in the same matter.