Talks of a possible replacement for arrested Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal have gained strength in the party circles despite the AAP top leadership saying Kejriwal would run the government from jail.
The names of Kejriwal's wife Sunita Kejriwal and cabinet ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj are being talked about as his possible replacement though no law stops a jailed chief minister from running office from behind bars, despite the practical difficulties in it.
However, the AAP faces another crisis; finding a worthy leader who could handle both the party and its government in Delhi in the absence of Kejriwal. As of now, the party lacks such a name. Kejriwal has been the face of the party since as its convener since its inception in 2012. He has been holding the Delhi Chief Minister's post for three terms spanning nearly a decade.
The urgency of the task becomes even more pressing as the AAP is gearing up to contest the Lok Sabha polls in Punjab, Delhi, Gujarat, Assam and Haryana in which Kejriwal was to be a key campaigner of the party.
The names currently doing rounds are Sunita Kejriwal, a former IRS officer and wife of Kejriwal, Atishi and Bharadwaj. Atishi, who holds the maximum number of portfolios in the Delhi government, including education, finance, PWD, revenue and services, is considered close to Arvind Kejriwal. She is also a frontline spokesperson of the party defending the AAP government and Kejriwal, and attacking the BJP in her regular press conferences and appearances on news channels.
Likewise, Bharadwaj is also a prominent member of the Delhi Cabinet holding several important portfolios including health and urban development. He, too, is a well-known face of the party, often engaged in defending the party and its leaders and counter-attacking the BJP and its government at the Centre on a range of governance-related and political issues.
However, the AAP has continuously ruled out replacing Kejriwal even if he gets arrested in the case. The leaders have maintained that he will not resign and instead run the government from behind bars. The party also launched a signature campaign 'Mai Bhi Kejriwal', asking people whether he should resign as Delhi chief minister or run the government from jail if arrested.
During the campaign, the AAP supremo also met party MLAs and municipal corporation councillors in Delhi for their feedback on the issue. Bharadwaj recently told reporters in a press conference, "Nearly 90 per cent of people in this exercise opined that Kejriwal has the mandate of Delhi and he has been elected and hence, only he would run the government in Delhi no matter from where."
There wouldn't be any legal obstacles for Kejriwal even if decided to run the government from the jail. Though a chief minister cannot claim immunity from civil and criminal proceedings under Article 361, no law stops a chief minister from running a government from jail if he is not convicted in the case.
But, if going by the recent trend, both AAP ministers - Satyendar Jain and Manish Sisodia- have resigned once they were arrested.
(With PTI inputs)
