The bail conditions imposed by the Supreme Court would have made it extremely difficult for Kejriwal to run the government. But with some sharp legal advice, Kejriwal would have managed to tide over these administrative difficulties. This clearly points to the fact that it is highly political and not an administrative decision. Kejriwal has his eye set on the ball — February 2025 elections in Delhi.
The Timing
With just five months to go for elections, Kejriwal is battling obvious anti-incumbency of 10 years. AAP had won a decisive mandate in 2015 and sealed its supremacy over Delhi politics in 2020. However, with its top leadership in jail, an obvious policy paralysis has crept in over the last one year. In such a scenario, the party needed to go back to the drawing board and come up with a convincing poll plank.
Anti-corruption poll plank
The resignation has put Kejriwal and his anti-corruption poll plank of 2013 back in focus. While explaining the timing of his resignation move to the party cadres he spoke directly to the people with the message — “Vote for me if you think I am innocent”. After the announcement, AAP packaged it as a “transparency move”. Ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj said that this showed how upright their CM was.
Absent fig leaf
The difference between 2020 and the current scenario is that AAP has the reins of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the state government. After it won the municipal elections in 2022, it does not have the fig leaf that it does not control Delhi’s primary civic body. AAP’s inability to address basic civic and administrative issues, including annual flooding of Delhi, outbreak of diseases like dengue, pollution and maintenance of infrastructure, has rubbed the sheen off its education and health models, which have been vote catchers.
Resurgent BJP
The parliamentary and assembly elections have worked differently in Delhi. But BJP’s resurgence in the city is a reality that AAP would need to contend with.
In the wake of these factors, Kejriwal’s resignation move is not only to tackle obvious anti-incumbency against the AAP but also remove himself from active administrative role and absolve himself from any responsibility of misgovernance or a probable electoral loss.
