AAP chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is clearly turning the page on the arrest of his close aide of more than 20 years and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, amid questions over his alleged involvement in the Delhi liquor excise policy scam.
The CM has moved quickly since the Supreme Court on Monday directed Sisodia to exhaust available alternate remedies and said that interfering directly would set a wrong precedent.
Kejriwal accepted the resignations of Sisodia and Jain, reallocated the 18 portfolios that Sisodia held between two current ministers Kailash Gahlot and Raaj Kumar Anand, and the next day, sent the file for appointing three-time Greater Kailash MLA and party spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj and Atishi, one-time MLA from Kalkaji, as ministers in his cabinet.
In a confidence-building exercise, Kejriwal also held back-to-back meetings with MLAs and councilors, asking them to be battle-ready. This weekend, March 4 and 5, Kejriwal will visit poll-bound Karnataka and Chhattisgarh, respectively.
NEW FACES IN CABINET
The CM has decided to go ahead with new faces in his cabinet instead of waiting for courts to provide relief to his jailed ministers or score political points against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Once the President accepts the resignations of Jain and Sisodia and new ministers are inducted, there will be a reshuffle in the cabinet.
On Wednesday, speaking in the Delhi assembly, Kejriwal said, “We have replaced our jailed ministers…Atishi ji and Saurabh Bhardwaj are excellent, well-educated professionals and they will carry on the work of Jain and Sisodia with double the speed. We will not let our work get hampered.”
The message is clear — move on.
ALLEGATIONS DENIED
Denying that the allegations of corruption, arrests and resignations of two of the tallest ministers in his cabinet is perhaps the deepest crisis to have hit the AAP, Kejriwal said, “There is no crisis. What is the AAP? We are nothing. Today what AAP is doing is necessary for the country, and it is necessary that our work spreads.”
Kejriwal, however, acknowledged that Jain and Sisodia will be missed. “Obviously, we will miss our leaders. But there are many other leaders. In Punjab, Delhi, Gujarat, more and more people are joining us, crores of people are joining us.”
The CM also rubbished the BJP’s demand for his resignation.
STRONG ATTACK
The AAP is also gearing up to fight the perception battle by launching a door-to-door campaign and holding nukkad sabhas in Delhi in which all leaders, MLAs, councillors and volunteers are expected to participate from March 10.
“In the coming days, the AAP will launch a door-to-door campaign to go to each household, to explain what is happening to every citizen…People will give their answer,” Kejriwal said.
When asked why he accepted the resignation of Sisodia when he was in custody for barely over 48 hours, while he had waited for Jain for nearly 10 months, Kejriwal said, “That is what they wanted. To stop our work. We will not let our work be affected under any circumstance.”
The embattled chief minister took potshots at the BJP and the Prime Minister. “A question arises — if Sisodia ji and Satyendar ji had not done good work in education and health, would Modi ji have got them arrested? The answer is no, their work had to be stopped…If Manish Sisodia ji joins the BJP today, would he not be freed tomorrow? Today, if Satyendar Jain joins the BJP, all cases would end and he would come out of jail immediately.”
“They want to stop the AAP. I want to tell the BJP that AAP ‘aandhi hai aandhi’ and it will not stop. No one can stop an idea whose time has come and AAP’s time has come.”
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