Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, in his more aggressive avatar, had in 2014 refused to sign on the bail bond in the defamation case filed against him by BJP's Nitin Gadkari. He had chosen to go to jail. “This is my principle that when I have not done anything wrong, I will not seek bail. I am ready to go to jail,” he had said.
Four years later, Kejriwal tendered a written apology to Gadkari, who he had included in his list of 'India's most corrupt', following which the defamation case has been closed.
The Delhi chief minister has gone on to apologise to Congress leader Kapil Sibal and his son Amit Sibal, after which the Sibals withdrew their defamation suits against him. Earlier, Kejriwal wrote to Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia, apologising to him for having alleged that he was involved in the drug trade in the northern state, and Majithia also withdrew the defamation case that he had filed against Kejriwal.
An apologising Kejriwal has left his own party men surprised. A stunned Punjab unit of the Aam Aadmi Party revolted against his decision to apologise to Majithia, since one of the main planks of the party has been the political patronage of the thriving drug trade in the state. AAP's Punjab head Bhagwant Mann and co-president of the state unit, Aman Arora, even resigned from their posts in protest.
Kejriwal has managed to quell the revolt in Punjab by explaining to the state unit how the apology is actually political strategy. Those close to the chief minister say the party is on mission mode to get rid of the cases filed against him through the apology route. They say that Kejriwal is likely to use the method of apology in the defamation cases filed against him by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit.
In defence of Kejriwal apologising to his political detractors, AAP leaders say that the CM and the party are getting bogged down by the dozens of civil and criminal cases filed against him, which are related to defamation, putting up of hoardings and posters during election campaigns, violation of Section 144 and public protests amongst others. These cases have been filed in Delhi and other places, such as Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Goa and Assam.
The AAP leadership is said to be tired from attending almost daily appearances in court, and the party is feeling the pinch in terms of funds as it has to pay for the legal services it employs in these cases.
The strategy to apologise and get rid of cases has been in the works for the past several months. Kejriwal is said to be keen on focusing on the affairs of Delhi, rather than spending time and effort in fighting court cases. This shows that the AAP is keen to focus on Delhi, and it wants to build politically on the good work that it does in the capital.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said, “We are here to serve the people; we do not have the time to go to courts for such issues. We are here to build schools and hospitals for the welfare of people.”