Can even go to jail for meetings: AAP MLAs urge Kejriwal to continue as Delhi CM even if arrested

All MLAs had a unanimous view that the BJP and PM Modi are scared of Arvind Kejriwal. The BJP knows that it cannot oust Kejriwal from power through elections and it can only be done by hatching a conspiracy," party minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said.

New Delhi: AAP MLAs on Monday asked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal not to resign if he is arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and continue to run the Delhi government from jail.

The MLAs made the appeal to Kejriwal during a meeting convened against the backdrop of the ED issuing summons to appear before it in Delhi excise case last week though the Chief Minister skipped it saying it was "politically motivated".

Addressing the media after the meeting, Delhi Ministers Saurabh Bharadwaj and Atishi said that the MLAs have asked Kejriwal to continue as Chief Minister even if he is arrested and continue to administer the capital from jail.

"All MLAs told him that if he is arrested, he will continue to be chief minister since he has been given the mandate by the people of Delhi to run the government. All of them had a unanimous view that the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are scared of Arvind Kejriwal. The BJP knows that it cannot oust Kejriwal from power through elections and it can only be done by hatching a conspiracy," Bharadwaj said.

He said all officers will go to jail for meetings, and "if Cabinet ministers are called, we are happy to go for the meeting in jail."

Atishi said the mandate is for Kejriwal as people voted for him and not for the party or any MLA. "Kejriwal will administer Delhi from jail if he is arrested. We will go to the court seeking permission to hold Cabinet meetings from jail. We will also seek permission for taking files to the jail. We will not allow work in Delhi to stop," she said.

Kejriwal said he will consider their proposal after having similar meetings with Delhi councillors, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and MLAs and organisation leaders.

On November 2, Kejriwal wrote to the ED demanding the withdrawal of the summons, which he described as “motivated”, “issued for extraneous considerations” “vague", “unsustainable in law” and “issued at the behest” of the ruling BJP.

Kejriwal’s decision to do campaigning for AAP in Madhya Pradesh and insisting on the withdrawal of the summons instead of seeking another date was intended as a political message to his cadre as well as the BJP that he is not going to take it lying down.