Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi and national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party, had his first press conference on 11th May after he was released from Tihar Jail yesterday after the Supreme Court granted him interim bail till 1st June to campaign for elections. Kejriwal spent 50 days in jail after he was arrested by ED in the Delhi excise police scam case. Notably, he defied all criticism and in an unprecedented action, repeatedly refused to step down from his role as chief minister even after he was arrested and sent to ED and then judicial custody. But after coming out of jail, he has now claimed that the office is unimportant to him and would quit 100 such positions for the sake of India.
“Kejriwal does not have greed for any position, I can sacrifice 100 CM posts for the nation,” the Delhi CM said while addressing party workers in Delhi, saying that the CM post is not important to him. However, Arvind Kejriwal also justified his decision to not resign from the post even after he was arrested. He claimed that if he resigns, the central govt will use it to topple governments.
He said, “CM post is not important to me, but why I didn’t resign after I went to jail. In the last 75 years in India, so many elections have taken place and AAP has won with most votes in Delhi. No party has ever won elections with such a huge majority. After winning with such a majority, they know they can’t win in Delhi. Therefore they devised a conspiracy, put Kejriwal in jail in a false case, and his government will fall.”
Kejriwal continued, “They devised this strategy, and I said I will not resign. If you put democracy in jail, I will show by running democracy from jail. I will run the govt too from jail, will not resign, and will not get caught in your trap. Hemant Soren also should not have resigned. If we resign, it is so convenient for them, in the states where they lose elections, they will put the chief minister in jail and topple the government.”
He further added, “If I have not resigned even after being put in jail, I am struggling against this dictatorship.”
"CM post not important to me, I can sacrifice 100 CM posts": Arvind Kejriwal while addressing party workers in Delhi pic.twitter.com/nnJDgfYTUq
— OpIndia.com (@OpIndia_com) May 11, 2024
The Delhi CM also claimed that BJP will remove Yogi Adityanath from the post of UP CM 2 months after the elections. He claimed that while the BJP arrests leaders of other parties, it sidelines its own leaders, giving examples of LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Basudhandhara Raje, Raman Singh etc. He said that if BJP wins the elections, they will remove Yogi Adityanath.
He also claimed that Narendra Modi will retire after he turns 75, and Amit Shah will become the PM. Therefore, people who are voting for BJP are voting to make Amit Shah the PM, he further claimed.
Earlier in the day, he visited the Hanuman temple and Sri Navgrah Temple in Connaught Place of the national capital along with his wife Sunita Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
Arvind Kejriwal was arrested on 21st March by the Directorate of Enforcement in connection with the Delhi excise policy case after he ignored nine summons. He spent more than 50 days in Tihar Jail before being granted interim bail by a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Dutta. However, the fresh order has been subject to stringent terms imposed by the Supreme Court. He is not allowed to sign any documents or attend the CM’s office until his signature is required to secure the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Delhi’s consent. Moreover, he is not permitted to go to the Delhi secretariat while on bail. He has been directed to surrender on 2nd June and refrain from speaking with any witnesses in the excise policy case or expressing any remarks regarding the ongoing case. The release has been allowed with a Rs 50,000 bail bond.
The Enforcement Directorate contested his release in the apex court which was hearing arguments on the AAP supremo’s bail plea. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who appeared on behalf of the agency submitted before the court that Arvind Kejriwal’s position as Chief Minister precluded any deviation and questioned whether the Supreme Court was making exceptions for political figures. Now, the AAP chief is scheduled to campaign for the Lok Sabha election and Delhi will vote on 25th May.
Arvind Kejriwal “is the kingpin and key conspirator of the Delhi Excise Policy scam in collusion with Ministers of Delhi Govt, AAP leaders and other persons,” according to the ED. The agency emphasized that he was part of a plot to draft the Excise Policy 2021–22 to benefit specific individuals and he also demanded bribes from alcoholic beverage industry leaders in return for the favours. It further pointed out that Arvind Kejriwal had a hand in using proceeds of crime during the Goa election campaign as his party’s chief decision-maker.
