New Delhi:
On Friday evening, Arvind Kejriwal announced that he was resigning after being the Chief Minister of Delhi for just 49 days as his push for the anti-corruption Jan Lokpal Bill was blocked in the state legislature by MLAs from the Congress and the BJP.
However, despite making a blistering resignation speech, Mr Kejriwal will have to run a caretaker government in Delhi for a few days. This message was delivered to Mr Kejriwal after he met with Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung to submit his resignation.
"The L-G has said that we have to remain in our positions till our resignation is accepted. He feels it will take five to six days i.e. till Wednesday or Thursday, the decision will be made," said AAP leader Manish Sisodia.
"The government will work for four-five days, we will do our share of work," Mr Sisodia said.
Delhi being a Union Territory-state, Mr Jung is not bound to go by the advice of the outgoing chief minister and his council. The L-G will need to apprise President Pranab Mukherjee about the development. Meanwhile, the AAP will continue to be a caretaker government which cannot take any policy decisions.
On Friday afternoon, a defiant Mr Kejriwal had tabled his anti-corruption Jan Lokpal Bill in the Delhi assembly amid loud protests by the Congress and the BJP over a warning by Mr Jung that the bill does not have his consent.
Mr Kejriwal has said that the Jan Lokpal bill is the heart of his party's agenda and is essential to cleanse the polity of deep-rooted graft. In a major embarrassment for him, other parties had voted that the Jan Lokpal bill had not been tabled, minutes after he asserted it had.
He accused the BJP and the Congress of blocking his bill in retaliation after he ordered an FIR, or police complaint, against Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani over gas prices.
Earlier, in the raucous Delhi Assembly, he had declared, "I will give up the chief minister's office not once but 1000 times to fight against corruption."