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Delhi under President’s rule, AAP plans nationwide rallies

CM Kejriwal quit after his party's efforts to introduce Jan Lokpal bill aimed to curb corruption was stalled.

India’s union cabinet on Saturday decided to impose President's rule in Delhi following the resignation of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his council of ministers on Friday. The assembly will now be kept in suspended animation.

Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party launched a nationwide anti-corruption drive on Saturday, a day after Kejriwal quit as Delhi chief minister. The BJP shied away from forming an alternative government while the Congress said that the AAP regime failed as it strayed ‘beyond the constitution’.

Lt.Governor Najeeb Jung has forwarded the resignation of Kejriwal to President Pranab Mukherjee, an official said on Saturday.

Kejriwal, 45, quit on Friday after his AAP's efforts to introduce the Jan Lokpal bill aimed to curb corruption was stalled by the BJP and the Congress. The AAP government lasted 49 days.

A day later, Kejriwal said: “I wasn’t in a hurry to resign, it was a message to the voters that we wanted to keep the corrupt out.”

He also refuted allegations by the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that they were not given enough time to study the Jan Lokpal bill. “They are lying... we were ready to give them more time,” he said.

BJP's former chief Nitin Gadkari, who had been in-charge of Delhi polls, said: "We don't have the numbers so we are not considering forming a government (in Delhi)."

Sheila Dikshit, who ruled Delhi for 15 years, said the AAP government failed because it started to go "beyond the constitution".

But a day after leaving power, the AAP went into an overdrive on Saturday.

Intending to clean up "a corrupt system", the party kicked off its 'Jhadu Chalao Yatra' across 24 states on Saturday, a party statement said. The Jhaadu (broom) is the election symbol under which the over-a-year old party fought the Delhi assembly election, bagging 28 seats.

With the party's sights now set on the Lok Sabha elections, the week-long 'yatra' (journey) will be organised at over 2,500 places in 332 constituencies across 24 states.