Delhi: LG sends AAP-turncoat Raaj Kumar Anand's resignation to President

Raaj Kumar Anand. Pic/ X

Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena on Monday forwarded the resignation of Delhi minister Raaj Kumar Anand to the President, reported PTI. The order comes following the recommendation of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Raj Niwas officials said on Monday.

In the only official communication Arvind Kejriwal made during the period when he was out on interim bail in the Delhi excise policy case, he recommended the acceptance of Anand's resignation, they said.

"The LG has forwarded the resignation to the President of India for consideration, as required by law," an official said.

Anand had resigned from the cabinet and quit the ruling AAP on April 10. He had alleged diversion of funds for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for other purposes and schemes and that Dalits were not given adequate representation in the party.

He joined the BSP on May 5 and contested the Lok Sabha elections from the New Delhi constituency on a party ticket.

Anand held various portfolios, including Social Welfare, SC/ST Welfare and Cooperatives.

In his recommendation to the LG, Kejriwal did not allocate the departments held by Anand to any other minister, according to the officials, said the PTI report.

"With no recommendation being made for reallocation, all these departments will automatically go to the chief minister who is in jail," the official added.

Kejriwal surrendered at the Tihar jail in Delhi on Sunday after his interim bail in the excise policy-linked money laundering case ended on June 1. He was granted the 21-day relief for campaigning in the Lok Sabha elections.

Elections over, Arvind Kejriwal returns to Tihar

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said he was going back to jail not because he was involved in corruption but as he had raised voice against "dictatorship". Kejriwal was released from jail on May 10 on interim bail granted by the Supreme Court in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam to campaign in the Lok Sabha polls.

The bail expired on June 1, the day when the seventh and last phase of the general elections was held. Addressing AAP workers and leaders at the party's officer before surrendering at the Tihar jail, Kejriwal said he campaigned during the Lok Sabha polls to "save" the country. "I am going back to jail not because I was involved in corruption but because I raised voice against dictatorship," he said. Kejriwal asserted that all exit polls predicting a third term for the BJP-led NDA were "fake".

"Yesterday, exit polls were out and I can give you in writing that they are fake. In Rajasthan, there are 25 parliamentary seats but one exit poll gave them 33 seats. What was the reason that they had to release fake exit poll results?" he said, targeting the BJP. Exit polls on Saturday predicted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will retain power for a third straight term, with the NDA expected to win a big majority in the polls.