Three months after quitting as the Chief Minister of Delhi, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal has apologized for giving up his post and has sought for a fresh election.
Kejriwal conceded that people in the state are upset with his decision to quit and they are of the view that he ran away from his responsibility mid-way.
"People are upset that we left them in the middle of nowhere, they are upset we resigned," he said.
"I apologize to the whole nation for this mistake."
Admitting that the party has now fallen short of option to form government since there will not be support from Congress again, Kejriwal said: "We will go for fresh elections as there are almost no chances of government formation in Delhi. We will travel across the capital to gauge people's mood."
Listing out the reason for people's anger in the state, the former Delhi CM said, "We had reduced electricity bills while the Congress increased it again. Police started bullying people. Sales tax officials started raiding. People felt we left them in this situation and that's why they are angry with us."
"We left for our principles. I did not know people will misinterpret it," he said.
The announcement comes amidst speculations that Kejriwal's party might ask the Congress or the BJP for support to form the government in Delhi. Following the party's poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections, some members of the party had reportedly proposed to form government in Delhi once again.
On Tuesday, AAP told Lt Governor Najeeb Jung that it wants to form the government in Delhi, and asked him not to dissolve the legislative assembly for some time, Hindustan Times reports.
In a letter to the L-G, the party is also reported to have said that it will hold public meetings in the national capital to obtain people's opinion on forming the government again.
The news has gathered mixed reactions in social media. Here are a few comments on Twitter:
I hd lost faith in India as a diverse Nn equal country but #MyLeaderKejriwal rekindled Dat hope.N even if divisive forces R here we will win
— NAGALIM (@TemjenAo) May 21, 2014
#MyLeaderKejriwal makes endless U-Turns like a dog chasing tail. He is a resp pathological liar bhagoda anarchist. pic.twitter.com/oswa5GhXuK — Prateek Arora (@PrateekArora_) May 21, 2014
Third election back to back for AAP! Will be exhausting but this is need of the hour. I will stand with #MyLeaderKejriwal!
— Ankit Lal (@ankitlal) May 21, 2014
I pitty AAPtards... They have to change their opinions so many times with every new U turns their Lord Moronwall takes.. #MyLeaderKejriwal — Anurag Paranjape (@unurag) May 21, 2014
Modi killed a 1000 people didn't say sorry. AK resigned on principles but yet apologized to the people of Delhi. #MyLeaderKejriwal
— Vidhi Agrawal (@n0m_nom) May 21, 2014
It takes a rare, brave man to apologise! "Anger of people against AAP is justified, we apologise, says @ArvindKejriwal" #MyLeaderKejriwal — Preeti Sharma Menon (@aapkipreeti) May 21, 2014
How many more dramas, lies and U-Turns do the AAP supporters need for saturation? #MyLeaderKejriwal #BhagodaReturns pic.twitter.com/kCCJAlmFA5
— Arnab Goswami (@JudgeArnab) May 20, 2014
