Delhi will gets its new Chief Minister on Tuesday with the AAP convening a legislative party meeting to announce a replacement for incumbent Arvind Kejriwal, before he puts in his papers to Lt Governor VK Saxena.

Kejriwal, meanwhile, called a meeting of AAP’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC) at his residence on Monday evening and discussed about the new CM with individual members of the committee, which comprised Delhi Cabinet Ministers and other party leaders.

“Yesterday, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal announced that he will resign from his post on Tuesday...In this regard, AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal called a meeting of the PAC in which all the senior leaders and cabinet ministers of Delhi were called...He held a one-to-one discussion with all leaders and ministers regarding the new CM,” Delhi Minister and AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj said.

On Tuesday, the second session of this meeting will be held with the MLAs, Bharadwaj stated. AAP sources said the legislative party meeting will be held at the Chief Minister’s residence at 11 am on Tuesday morning where a leader will be selected to lead the government for the remaining months in power.

Background

CM Kejriwal is scheduled to meet Lt Governor Saxena at 4:30 pm on Tuesday to submit his resignation.

The quick political developments took place after CM Kejriwal’s surprise announcement on Sunday that he would resign in the next 48 hours and would return to the office only after getting a “certificate of honesty” from the people. He had also asked the government to prepone the Delhi Assembly polls to November, from February, 2025.

Kejriwal was, on Thursday, released from Tihar jail after the Supreme Court granted him bail in the excise policy case. The Apex Court, however, has barred him from carrying out any official work during his bail period -- one of the reasons which is said to have prompted him to hand over the baton to another leader, since governance has come to a standstill in the national capital.

‘Political gimmick’

The BJP has described Kejriwal’s resignation as a PR stunt. Taking a jibe at the AAP convenor, BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj said, “The court seeing his involvement in the scam did not consider him fit to be the CM and this was also his bail condition. He cannot sign any file nor can he go to the CM’s residence. Due to this helplessness, he has created a political pretence by giving the cover of morality by tendering his resignation. This resignation should have come 177 days ago, if the basis of this decision was morality. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal ji is the master of U-turn...”

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