Last time Arvind Kejriwal quit as Delhi CM: The 49-day govt and what followed

The Delhi Assembly elections of 2013, the results of which were announced on December 8 that year, threw up a hung verdict with the BJP emerging as the single-largest party winning 31 seats in the 70-member House. The AAP, which made its electoral debut, won 28 seats while the Congress was restricted to 8 and other parties won 3 seats.

The BJP, which was invited by then Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung to form the government, declined the offer even as the three parties — Congress, BJP and AAP — ruled out alliances with each other. Jung then invited the AAP to form the government following which Kejriwal wrote to the BJP as well as the Congress seeking “clarity” on 18 issues. While the BJP declined support, the Congress reportedly agreed on 16 of the 18 issues and extended outside support to the AAP, paving the way for Kejriwal to be sworn in as Delhi CM on December 28, 2013.

Some of his first moves as CM included initiation of a corruption redress “durbar” and the rollback of FDI in the multi-brand retail sector, a move sanctioned by the previous Sheila Dikshit-led Congress government, citing high unemployment.

Forty-nine days after assuming power, Kejriwal resigned as the CM on February 14, 2014, citing the non-introduction of the Jan Lokpal Bill in the Assembly following which President’s Rule was imposed in Delhi and the House was kept in suspended animation.

After stepping down as CM, Kejriwal unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from Varanasi against then BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and lost by a margin of 3.71 lakh votes. In the run-up to the elections, Kejriwal was a victim of two ink attacks even as eggs were hurled at his vehicle during campaigning in Varanasi.

In the run-up to the 2015 Assembly polls, Kejriwal repeatedly apologised to the people for stepping down, terming his 49-day tie-up with the Congress as an “honest mistake”.

“We realised that many people were quite angry with us for having quit the Delhi government. We were asked why we left the government. Earlier, we had decided to hold a referendum and ask people if we should try to form the government. But chances of government formation in the current Assembly are negligible. We will go to the people and hold various meetings with them in the coming days. We will apologise to them, gain their trust and seek their support so that we can come back with a thumping majority,” Kejriwal had said in May 2014.

Ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Kejriwal met the autorickshaw driver who had slapped him during a roadshow while accusing the former Delhi CM of being a “liar”. The driver, Lali, was seen apologising to Kejriwal and said he had resorted to the act as he was “angry with Kejriwal for leaving the government in a few days”. He also faced attacks from the “supporters” of his mentor Anna Hazare while campaigning in Haryana in April 2014.

Just ahead of the Assembly polls in February 2015, he apologised again saying many people across Delhi felt that AAP’s actions have let them down. “In May (last year), we apologised to the people of Delhi for the disappointment caused; and in case you missed it the first time, I do so again – so you hear us loud and clear,” he had said.

The AAP stormed to power, winning 67 of the 70 seats, reducing the BJP to 3 seats. The Congress, which lost power nationally months earlier in the national elections, failed to open its account.