I will resign, this is my agnipariksha, says Arvind Kejriwal

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal during AAP workers’ meeting. Pics/PTI

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said he would resign after two days and would demand early polls in Delhi while vowing not to sit in the CM's chair till people give him a "certificate of honesty".

Kejriwal, who was released on bail from Tihar on Friday in the excise policy graft case, said he would hold a meeting of AAP MLAs in the next couple of days and a party leader would take over as chief minister.

"Delhi elections are due in February but I demand that elections in the national capital be held in November with Maharashtra," he said.

"I will only sit on CM's chair after people give me a certificate of honesty. Want to give ‘agnipariksha' after coming out of jail."

The AAP national convener said, "I will become chief minister and Manish Sisodia deputy CM only when people say we are honest.

Alleging the BJP tried to prove him corrupt, Kejriwal said the saffron party cannot provide good schools and free electricity to people because they are corrupt. "We are honest," he asserted.

"They slap false cases against non-BJP chief ministers. If they are arrested, I urge them not to resign but run the government from jail," the Delhi CM said.

Referring to him quitting the chief minister's post in 2014 over the Jan Lokpal Bill, just 49 days after assuming power, Kejriwal said, "I resigned then for my ideals. I do not have a lust for power."

‘BJP drafted fantasy called liquor scam'

Lashing out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), AAP leader and former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that the BJP drafted a fantasy story called ‘liquor scam' and those stories were proved wrong in the Supreme Court. "The BJP drafted a fantasy story named the ‘Liquor Scam'. The Supreme Court gave bail to Arvind Kejriwal and ended that story... It is a happy ending for us and a sad ending for the BJP.

PR stunt: BJP on Kejriwal ‘resignation'

As soon as Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday announced his intent to resign as Delhi CM in two days, BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari termed it a "PR stunt" and said he is doing this to restore his image.

Bhandari further said that Kejriwal wants to apply Sonia Gandhi's model, where she made Manmohan Singh a dummy Prime Minister and ran the government from behind the scenes. "This is a PR stunt of Arvind Kejriwal. He has understood that his image among the people of Delhi is not of an honest leader but of a corrupt leader, today Aam Aadmi Party is known across the country as a corrupt party. Under his PR stunt, he wants to restore his image...," Bhandari said.

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