Chandigarh, September 15: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday called AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal's decision to resign as Delhi chief minister "revolutionary" and attributed it to his "honesty and commitment to the people". Kejriwal on Sunday announced that he would resign after two days and sought early polls in the national capital while vowing not to sit in the chief minister's chair till people gave him a "certificate of honesty".
Kejriwal, who was on Friday released on bail from Tihar jail in the Delhi excise 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. Arvind Kejriwal Announces Resignation: AAP Leader Atishi Explains Delhi CM’s 2-Day Wait To Resign (Watch Video).
"Aam Aadmi Party's national convenor @ArvindKejriwal has announced his resignation from the post of chief minister of Delhi after two days… (He) also appealed to the people of Delhi that if he is honest, then they should vote for him in the upcoming Delhi Assembly polls... Only an honest and pro-people thinking leader can say this," Mann said in a post on X.
In a statement later, Mann praised Kejriwal's decision as "revolutionary" and attributed it to his "honesty and commitment to the people". The people of Delhi will support Kejriwal in the assembly elections, the Punjab chief minister added. Mann said there had been attempts to "undermine" AAP by imprisoning Kejriwal but these efforts failed to break the party. Arvind Kejriwal Announces Resignation: A Day After Walking out of Tihar Jail, AAP Leader Says He Will Step Down As Delhi CM in 2 Days; Declares ‘Ready for Agni Pariksha’.
Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema called Kejriwal's decision "significant" and claimed the country was aware that the BJP had "fabricated" a case against him. Cheema expressed confidence that millions of people would come out in support of Kejriwal when he stepped out of his house and added that the people of Delhi would elect him as chief minister again.
Kejriwal values the people of Delhi more than the chief minister's chair, he said. Asserting that the truth would prevail, Cheema also challenged the BJP to hold the elections now. The BJP will face a "decisive defeat" in the upcoming Delhi elections, he added.