Arvind Kejriwal’s search for a loyal replacement in Delhi is a political gamble Premium

Arvind Kejriwal considers resigning as Delhi Chief Minister to focus on elections, facing challenges of loyal replacements.

Two days after he came out of jail on bail in the Delhi excise policy case, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal declared that he would be quitting the top post, having resolutely refused to do so while behind bars.

Political observers believe the gambit is aimed at regaining political traction ahead of the Assembly Election in Delhi early next year, while someone else takes over the hassle of governance. Mr. Kejriwal is not the first Chief Minister to propose this route to political and electoral redemption, but the experience of other CMs who opted for it has been mixed, and comes with cautionary tales.

In 2014, after he walked out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar faced electoral decimation in the Lok Sabha election and was quick to quit the post and appoint current Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi in his stead.

The idea was to do what Mr. Kejriwal is proposing — to hit the streets before the Assembly Election, re-strategise, and leave governance to a declared loyalist. But things did not work out the way Mr. Kumar would have preferred, with Mr. Manjhi getting comfortable in the CM’s chair, and soon believing that he had secured the position on his own rather than as Mr. Kumar’s replacement.

In that situation, Mr. Kumar, retaining the loyalty of his MLAs, managed to save his government and push out Mr. Manjhi, who formed the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), now part of the NDA. “Jo simhasan par baitha ho, wahi Vikramaditya hai (he who occupies the throne is Vikramaditya),” a senior Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader, explaining the events of that time, said, alluding to the ‘Simhasan Battisi’ stories of King Vikramaditya’s throne and their unique propensity to accord wisdom to whoever occupied it.

A similar situation occurred with Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren when he was arrested in January this year by the Enforcement Directorate. Unlike Mr. Kejriwal, he tendered his resignation and called a meeting of his MLAs, who duly elected Champai Soren as his replacement for the time that he was incarcerated.

Again, Mr. Champai Soren appeared reluctant to vacate the seat for Mr. Hemant Soren once the latter got bail and subsequently parted ways with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) when it was demonstrated that Mr. Hemant Soren retained the party’s support.