A senior Indian opposition politician will run the capital from his prison cell, a senior aide said yesterday, facing down growing calls by rivals demanding he resign.
Arvind Kejriwal (pictured), chief minister of New Delhi and a key leader in an opposition alliance formed to compete against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in upcoming elections, was arrested on Thursday in connection with a long-running corruption probe.
Atishi Marlena Singh, New Delhi’s education minister and fellow member of Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (Common Man Party, AAP), said “statutory and constitutional provisions” allowed him to remain in his post while behind bars.
“We are very clear that Arvind Kejriwal will remain the chief minister of Delhi,” Singh, 42, told AFP.
“If he were to resign when there’s been no trial and no conviction, it opens up the route for other opposition chief ministers to be removed,” she added.
India’s main financial investigation agency, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which arrested Kejriwal, has launched probes into at least four other state chief ministers or their family members. All the investigations involve political opponents of Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
While Modi enjoys high levels of support among his backers, critics accuse him of using law enforcement agencies to intimidate opposition leaders.
Kejriwal, 55, denies the charges against him. His supporters, who held a rally in the city yesterday demanding his release, say charges against him are politically motivated and aimed at sidelining challengers of Modi ahead of the polls. Modi’s political opponents and international rights groups have long sounded the alarm on India’s shrinking democratic space.
