Arvind Kejriwal to vacate chief minister's house in next 15 days: Sources

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who announced his resignation today, will leave his bungalow in the next 15 days, sources told India Today on Sunday. Sources also said that Kejriwal would resign on Tuesday. A huge controversy broke out last year over the renovation of the chief minister's official residence in Delhi.

In May last year, Kejriwal found himself in the middle of a crisis after it was alleged that he spent Rs 45 crore on the renovation of his government bungalow. In May, the Congress alleged that the amount spent on Kejriwal's residence was Rs 171 crore and not Rs 45 crore as his government had to buy additional flats for officers whose houses had to be either demolished or vacated for the expansion of the CM's residential complex.

Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken accused Kejriwal of faking a simple lifestyle and instead spending crores on his residence. He said that in contrast to this, the epitome of simplicity in Delhi was his party leader and former chief minister Sheila Dikshit. "The amount spent by the whole cabinet of Sheila Dikshit on their homes in 15 years of its rule is no match to the amount spent by Arvind Kejriwal on the renovation of his palace."

Earlier today, Kejriwal made a surprise announcement that he would resign after two days. He said he would return as chief minister only after an election, which he demanded be held in November. Kejriwal, who was released on bail from Tihar on Friday in the liquor policy 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...I will become chief minister and Manish Sisodia deputy CM only when people say we are honest."

The BJP, however, hit back at Kejriwal, saying he should have resigned a long ago. Kejriwal is enacting the resignation drama because the court did not acquit him in the excise policy scam case and instead granted him a conditional bail, which turned him into a ceremonial minister from the chief minister, BJP national spokesperson Shezad Poonwalla claimed.

Poonwalla alleged that the AAP national convenor's announcement is a part of his plan to make his wife Sunita Kejriwal the chief minister. "Arvind Kejriwal has done a PhD on how to make a virtue out of necessity...he has taken two days' time because his entire plan is to make his wife Sunita Kejriwal chief minister of Delhi in his place."