In what may be considered the launch of its campaign for next year’s general election, the Aam Aadmi Party on Friday started a referendum asking Delhiites if they want Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to resign over the excise policy case or run the government from jail in the event of his arrest.
The 20-day-long ‘Main Bhi Kejriwal’ signature campaign was announced on Thursday to “expose the Bharatiya Janata Party’s conspiracies” and would cover the city’s 2,000 polling stations. However, the BJP alleged that the campaign was confined only to AAP workers, to whom the public is posing questions over corruption.
The decision to hold the referendum was taken last month during a meeting Mr. Kejriwal held with AAP MLAs and councillors after the Enforcement Directorate on November 2 summoned him to record his statement in the alleged excise policy scam. However, Mr. Kejriwal skipped the summons and accused the BJP-led Centre of pushing for his arrest.
Speaking at the launch of the campaign in Laxmi Nagar, Delhi Cabinet Minister Gopal Rai said the people know that the BJP is hatching a conspiracy to arrest Mr. Kejriwal for fear of losing in the Lok Sabha election. “In the end, whatever the public opinion is, it will be handed over to Mr. Kejriwal,” the AAP Delhi State convenor added.
He said that so far, the people that AAP workers have spoken to are against the CM’s resignation.
‘Big circus’
However, the campaign evoked criticism from the BJP and others, including former AAP member Ashutosh. Calling it a “big circus”, he wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “This was AAP which called every politician corrupt and asked all to resign... now what happened?”
Calling the campaign a non-starter, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said, “Around Christmas, AAP leaders will try to project Mr. Kejriwal as a false superhero, while Delhittes will not extend them any support.”
Meanwhile, BJP leader and former Union Minister Vijay Goel said he will organise a referendum of his own on Saturday in Rajiv Chowk on whether the CM should quit if arrested.
