Kejriwal quits over Jan Lokpal - The Hindu

Thwarted from introducing the Delhi Jan Lokpal Bill, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal resigned on Friday, 48 days after he assumed power, and recommended the dissolution of the State Assembly.

In a letter sent to President Pranab Mukherjee through Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, Mr. Kejriwal recommended the "immediate conduct" of elections.

The resignation came hours after his government could not introduce the Bill in the Delhi Assembly as 42 MLAs — 32 of the BJP, eight of the Congress and one of the Janata Dal (United) and an Independent — opposed it in the 70-member Assembly.

While announcing his resignation to cheering supporters at his party office, where he went from the Assembly, with his trademark muffler around his head, Mr. Kejriwal attacked the Congress and the BJP for stalling the anti-corruption legislation and linked it with his government's decision to register an FIR against Reliance Industries head Mukesh Ambani.

"When we tried to pass the Delhi Jan Lokpal, the Congress and the BJP ganged up to stall it. Why did this happen? Because three days back, we registered an FIR against Mukesh Ambani who runs this country. For last 10 years, he was backing the UPA government, but for the last one year, he is behind Narendra Modi. From where does Mr. Modi get so much money?" he asked alleging a "nexus" among the Congress, the BJP and Mr. Ambani.

"People from the Congress and the BJP know if this law is brought in, their leaders will end up in jail. They realised that after we booked Mukesh Ambani and Union Minister Veerappa Moily, if we pass the Jan Lokpal Bill then other senior leaders like Sharad Pawar and Kamal Nath may be next in line," he said.

Before facing defeat on the introduction of the Bill in the afternoon, the Assembly was repeatedly disrupted in the morning as the Congress and the BJP demanded that Speaker M.S. Dhir read out a written "message" from the Lieutenant Governor over the constitutional status of the Bill. The Bill was listed as the last item, but it ended up dominating the Assembly proceedings.

Finally, Mr. Dhir read out the message and allowed the Chief Minister to table the Bill and directed a discussion on it. This led to chaos and the House had to be adjourned and the Speaker called an all-party meeting.

When the Assembly reconvened, the Speaker decided to get a sense of the House whether the Bill could be introduced, where the motion was defeated. Apart from 27 MLAs of AAP, its rebel MLA, Vinod Kumar Binny, voted in its favour.

Reacting to Mr. Kejriwal's resignation, Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh said: "We did not withdraw our support. Had that been the case, we would not have supported the Appropriation Bill that was taken for voting after the Lokpal Bill."

BJP leader Harsh Vardhan appeared surprised, saying he did not believe that Mr. Kejriwal would actually carry out his threat to resign.