Public failed to understand our big sacrifice in Delhi, Kejriwal says

 

Varanasi, 16 Apr 2014 (TOI): AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said he committed a "mistake" of not consulting people before resigning as chief minister of Delhi.

 

"I think we made a mistake on (the issue of) resignation. Resignation in principle was (however) right," Kejriwal told NDTV here.

 

Kejriwal and his cabinet quit on February 14 after failing to pass the Jan Lokpal bill in the Delhi assembly because of opposition from the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party.

 

"We should have consulted people before resigning the way we did before forming the government, which we didn’t do," he added. "It was a communication problem."

 

Kejriwal, who was chief minister for 49 days, agreed that the decision did not go down well with the people.

 

"People could not absorb it. I should have interacted with people the way I did in (the) 10 days during campaigning in Delhi ... I should have gone among (the) people."

 

But he insisted that he made a "sacrifice" by resigning as chief minister.

 

"I could have also stuck to the chief minister’s post as others do but my conscience did not allow (me to do so).

 

"We thought we had done a big sacrifice, and the public would praise us. But the public couldn’t understand the logic."

 

Kejriwal led the AAP to a spectacular showing in the Delhi assembly election in December, winning 28 of the 70 seats. The BJP came on top with 31 seats and the Congress was routed with just eight seats.

 

The AAP went on to form a minority government with Congress backing after conducting a referendum among voters on whether or not it should take Congress support to take power.

 

But when he decided to quit, Kejriwal took a unilateral decision.