Jailed Delhi CM Kejriwal to run capital from cell

NEW DELHI: A senior Indian opposition politician will run the capital from his prison cell, a senior aide said on Tuesday, facing down growing calls by rivals demanding he resign.

Arvind Kejriwal, 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, said.

“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.

Modi’s political opponents and international rights groups have long sounded the alarm on India’s shrinking democratic space.

“All the centre has to do is file some fake cases, and then the ED goes and arrests them”, according to Singh.