AAP MLAs' in one voice: 'Kejriwal should run govt from jail'

New Delhi: A day after Arvind Kejriwal was sent to judicial custody in the excise policy case, AAP MLAs and councillors on Tuesday met his wife Sunita Kejriwal and asserted that the Delhi chief minister should run his government from jail and not resign. Kejriwal is in judicial custody till April 15 after his arrest last month by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money-laundering case linked to his government's now-scrapped excise policy. He is lodged in Tihar jail.

The AAP MLAs and Municipal Corporation of Delhi councillors told Sunita Kejriwal that two crore people of the national capital stand with the chief minister and he should not resign at any cost, party leaders said. Of the AAP's 62 MLAs in Delhi, 55 including all the ministers were present during the meeting.

Four MLAs are out of station while three -- Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain -- are in jail, the AAP leaders said.

The BJP has demanded that Kejriwal should resign as chief minister following his arrest in connection with the alleged liquor policy scam. Senior leader Saurabh Bharadwaj said the elected representatives wanted to meet Sunita Kejriwal after Kejriwal's arrest.

They told Sunita that the BJP will exert "immense" pressure on the Delhi chief minister to resign. If he steps down, they will say that he abandoned his responsibilities, Bharadwaj said. "It is the policy of the BJP to set a trap and force the chief minister to resign," he said. Kejriwal has communicated to party leaders and volunteers through his wife that he is fine, strong and more resolute than before, and asked them not to worry about him, the Delhi minister said.

"The chief minister has said that the rally gave a clear message that as long as he is in jail, the problems for the BJP will keep increasing," Bharadwaj said.