Delhi Congress president Devender Yadav
Credit: X/@devendrayadvinc
New Delhi: Delhi Congress president Devender Yadav on Tuesday claimed that Arvind Kejriwal has the "stigma of corruption" on him and was "compelled" to resign as chief minister since the top court imposed many conditions for his bail in the excise policy case.
He said Atishi, the chief minister designate, should rise to the occasion to solve the problems of the people of Delhi, particularly women.
The Aam Aadmi Party led by its chief minister designate Atishi staked claim to form a new government in Delhi on Tuesday shortly after Arvind Kejriwal resigned from the post, an effort seen as a bold gambit to seize the initiative ahead of assembly elections due in five months.
Reacting to the development, Yadav said Kejriwal, who talks about honesty and probity, was "compelled" to resign as the Supreme Court had imposed many conditions on him.
"Kejriwal should have resigned when he was sent to jail in connection with the liquor scam six months ago as he carries the stigma of corruption," he said.
Notwithstanding the relaxation in bail conditions by the Supreme Court while releasing him in the CBI's corruption case in excise policy 'scam', Kejriwal, as chief minister, could not visit his office at the secretariat and sign any official file.
Yadav said the AAP cannot run away from the promises it made after coming to power in Delhi. "Atishi has become chief minister for three months and she cannot sideline the problems of the people." Assembly polls in Delhi are due in February next year but Kejriwal has demanded that the election be held in November with Maharashtra.
The Congress' Delhi unit chief said that Atishi should table the 11 pending CAG reports in the Assembly and it would expose the "corruption and misappropriation of funds by the AAP government".
She currently holds multiple portfolios in the Delhi government.
Yadav claimed that Delhi had a very strong woman chief minister in Sheila Dikshit when the Congress was in power, and she carried out unprecedented development works. But the Kejriwal government ruined it by its negligence and misgovernance, he alleged.
The AAP has been exposed publicly, and Kejriwal cannot go to people to prove his honesty as they have many questions about his unfulfilled promises, the Delhi Congress chief said.