Hours after Arvind Kejriwal announced that he would step down as Chief Minister, Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit on Sunday said the AAP supremo should have quit a long time back. "There is no question of him becoming the CM again. We have been saying this for a long time that he should resign as the CM," Dikshit said while speaking to news agency ANI.
The former Congress MP said that Kejriwal's resignation is a "mere gimmick". "This happened for the first time when an elected leader came out of jail on bail, and was asked by the Supreme Court to not go to the CMO or sign any papers. Such conditions were never imposed on any other chief minister," he said.
The Congress leader said that Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren also came out of jail, the court did not impose any such restrictions on him. "Maybe even the SC fears that this person (Kejriwal) might try to tamper with the evidence. The Supreme Court is treating him like a criminal. There is no correlation of morality and Arvind Kejriwal," he said.
Earlier today, Kejriwal said he would resign after two days and would demand early polls in Delhi. He vowed not to sit in the chief minister's chair till people give him a "certificate of honesty". Kejriwal, who was released on bail from Tihar on Friday in the excise policy corruption case, said, "I will only sit on chief minister's chair after people give me a certificate of honesty. Want to give 'agnipariksha' after coming out of jail."
While the AAP leaders hailed him for the decision, the BJP said he should have resigned a long ago. BJP's Harish Khurana said if Kejriwal wanted to resign, he should have done today. "This is a drama that he will ask the people. The people are asking you if the court has given a verdict that you can't go to the Secretariat, you cannot sign a file, then what is your justification to be in the CM position? You are a CM on bail. You are not acquitted, you are a CM who is on trial."
BJP's Manjinder Singh Sirsa said Kejriwal stepping down as chief minister is not a sacrifice. "The Supreme Court has said in the order that he cannot go near the CM's chair and cannot sign any files. Hence, you don't have an option, you are forced to resign because of the SC order. The people gave their verdict 3 months ago when you asked 'jail or bail', you lost all 7 (Lok Sabha seats in Delhi) and were sent to jail. Now he has asked for a two-day time because he is convincing all MLAs to make his wife the CM. He is forced to leave his chair because he is involved in the liquor scam."