Arvind Kejriwal quits as Delhi CM after Jan Lokpal fiasco

New DelhiFortynine days after he took charge of the Delhi government Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Friday resigned following a tumultuous day in the state assembly where combined Congress and BJP legislators ldquodefeatedrdquo his partyrsquos attempts to introduce its signal Jan Lokpal bill which the Aam Admi Pary AAP says was meant to curb corruption in high placesIn political embarrassment for the Aam Aadmi Party AAP government Kejriwal introduced the bill amid din in the assembly but an aggressive Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP leaders became strange bedfellows to force Speaker MS Dhir to go for votingIn the voting 42 members voted against the introduction of the bill while only 27 MLAs all AAP leaders voted for it Delhi assembly has a total strength of 70As it became apparent that the Congress BJP and Janata DalUnited legislator Shoiab Iqbal and lone independent Rambeer Shokeen will not allow the AAP government to introduce the bill Kejriwal and his senior cabinet colleague Manish Sisodia presented two appropriation bills that would empower the government to access funds for expenditureAAP chief Arvind KejriwalKejriwal then stood up to speak giving enough indication he was going to resign when he said that this seems like our last assembly session He said it was more important to fight corruption than to run a governmentldquoToday they did not let the Jan Lokpal bill to be introduced It has been defeatedrdquo declared a defiant and gesticulating KejriwalWhether our government remains in power or not is not important he said trying to make himself heard above the din caused by sloganeering and heckling by Congress and BJP legislatorsWe have come here to save the country If we have to give up the chief ministers post for the sake of the country we will do it not a hundred times but a thousand times he saidKejriwal took charge Dec 28 at the head of a minority government propped up by the Congress after an astonishing election victoryBoth the BJP Congress Shokeen and Iqbal were demanding a discussion on Lt Governor Najeeb Jungrsquos appeal to the government not to table the bill in the house without his approvalJung had earlier in the day written to the speaker on the matter which had become contentious over the past week with the lieutenantgovernor saying that the union governments nod is needed for introducing the bill an issue on which opinion is divided among legal and constitutional expertsBut the AAP government was firm and had decided to push for the bill which was its poll promiseBut much before the house could be adjourned messages went out to AAP members to meet at its party headquarters at Hanuman RoadWhen the threeday session ended in just two days Kejriwal without interacting with media left for the party office It was here that he announced his resignation The final decision was taken by the partyrsquos Political Affairs CommitteeOn Feb 9 Kejriwal had threatened to resign if the bill was not allowed to be passedIt was an actionpacked 49day stint for the AAP government which received both bouquets and brickbats for its actions and utterances in its brief and maiden stint in power in a politicallycharged journey that began with the partys formation on November 2012The party was able to deliver some of its biggest poll promises including cheap water power anticorruption helpline audit of power companies and acting on suspected corruption in the organisation of Commonwealth Games and in gas pricing in which he took on from former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit to industrial Mukesh Ambani chairman of Reliance Industries and Indias richest manBut the indiscretions of one of his ministers especially Law Minister Somnath Bharti who went after African residents on suspicion of them being part of a drugandsex racket and his nightlong blockade of the centre of the capital days before the Republic Day Parade got the party a lot of flak and adverse media attentionHis resignation now sets him free to get back to the streets and do what he knows best to emote with the problems of the aad admi the common man whose ranks have swelled in support for his party and on whom he is counting to translate his national ambitionsPolitical analysts expect Kejriwal and his AAP to make a strong bid for a substantial parliamentary presence in order to be player in the postelection scenario in three months time