After Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that he would resign from the post of the Chief Minister of Delhi within the next two days, his closest aide and AAP leader Manish Sisodia cleared his stance stating that he would not occupy the Deputy CM’s chair until the public approves his honesty.

The move comes after Kejriwal, in his first speech after securing bail from the Supreme Court in the alleged liquor policy scam, said until he is acquitted by the court, he will not sit on the Chief Minister’s chair.

Sisodia walked out of Tihar jail after 17 months of imprisonment in the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam on August 9. He resigned from the Deputy CM’s post after the CBI arrested him in February, 2023.

Shortly after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that he would resign from his position within the next two days, the BJP on Sunday slammed the move as a “PR stunt.” Party national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari said that Kejriwal’s decision was an attempt to salvage his image among Delhi voters, who now view him as a “corrupt” leader.

“He has understood that his image among the people of Delhi is not of an honest leader but of a corrupt leader. Today, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is known across the country as a corrupt party,” Bhandari told news agency ANI.

He said that Kejriwal’s move was reminiscent of the “Sonia Gandhi model,” referring to the period when Congress was reportedly accused of influencing government decisions through then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh while he was in office. The BJP leader claimed that Kejriwal’s resignation plan is a strategy to shift blame and make someone else a scapegoat amid fears of losing the upcoming Delhi elections.