Aam Aadmi Party boss Arvind Kejriwal quit as Delhi Chief Minister – in favour of colleague Atishi – Tuesday evening, capping a dramatic four days following his release on bail in the liquor policy case.

Mr Kejriwal met Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena – the centre’s rep in the national capital – at his residence to resign and recommend Atishi’s promotion. He was accompanied by his successor and also ex deputy Manish Sisodia, who too was arrested in the liquor policy case and is also out on bail.

Shortly afterwards a determined Atishi told reporters the AAP would work for the people of Delhi and to ensure victory in the Delhi election (and the return of Mr Kejriwal), whom she hailed as her “mentor”.

Earlier today the AAP said Atishi had been unanimously selected as leader of its legislative party, i.e., leader of its MLAs, and would replace Mr Kejriwal till the next Assembly election, which is due in February. Mr Kejriwal has, though, called for an early election, perhaps as soon as next month.

Speaking shortly afterwards, Atishi said Mr Kejriwal’s return will be the goal of her government and all AAP lawmakers. She appealed to voters to “make your son, your brother, Chief Minister again”.

“Arvind Kejriwal believed in me… AAP believed in me. That is why I have been given this responsibility. While I am happy in this trust, I am also sad Arvind Kejriwal had to resign,” the incoming Chief Minister told reporters, “Delhi has only one Chief Minister… and that is Kejriwal.”

She also vowed to defend the AAP against the Bharatiya Janata Party’s “conspiracies”, accusing the opposition party of pursuing “fake charges’ against the outgoing Chief Minister; Mr Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in March, and again by the Central Bureau of Investigation in June, on money laundering and corruption charges linked to the liquor policy scam.

On Sunday, two days after leaving jail, Mr Kejriwal dropped a political bombshell, even surprising some within his own party. Mr Kejriwal – who has denied corruption charges and accused the BJP of framing him – said he would not govern Delhi till he gets “justice from the people’s court”.

“I got justice from the legal courts… now I will get justice from the people’s court. I want to ask the people of Delhi, is Kejriwal innocent or guilty? If I have worked, vote for me,” he declared.

Fulfilling some of its key promises made to the protesting doctors during their meeting with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday, the West Bengal government has transferred Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal as well as the state’s Director of Medical Education and Director of Health Services.

Mr Goyal has been replaced by Manoj Kumar Verma, a 1998-batch officer, who held the post of Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) to which he was appointed in January this year. Mr Verma had taken over from Jawed Shamim, who was seen as one of the frontrunners for the Kolkata Police Commissioner’s post. Mr Shamim will now be replacing Mr Verma.

Vineet Goyal, who is a 1994-batch officer and had been the Kolkata Police Commissioner since December 2021, will be assuming charge as the Additional Director General of Police and Inspector General of Police (Special Task Force).

The transfers and appointments were announced in a notification on Tuesday afternoon and included the names of four other police officers as well. Among them was Deputy Commissioner (North Division) Abhishek Gupta, who has been replaced by Dipak Sarkar. The North Division is where the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital is located and the parents of the trainee doctor who was raped and murdered at the hospital on August 9 had alleged that Mr Gupta had offered them money.

Shortly after the notification on the police officers was released, the Bengal government announced that Dr Kaustav Nayak had been removed as the Director of Medical Education and Dr Debasish Halder as the Director of Health Services.

The order by the health department said Dr Swapan Soren has been appointed the new in-charge director of health services and Dr Suparna Dutta the officer on special duty for medical education.

Dr Nayak will take charge as the Director of the Institute of Health and Family Welfare while Dr Halder has been posted as the officer on special duty (public health) at Swasthya Bhawan.

‘Younger Brothers’

Doctors, who have been protesting since the rape and murder came to light, finally met Chief Minister Banerjee on Monday after talks fell through several times over a demand for live streaming of the meeting. The West Bengal government had termed Monday’s invitation its “fifth and final” invite.

While Ms Banerjee had earlier said that Mr Goyal had offered to resign multiple times and asked the protesting doctors to wait, given the upcoming Durga Puja celebrations, she announced on Monday that the Kolkata Police Commissioner would be replaced, as would the Deputy Commissioner (North Division) and the two health officials.

Speaking after the meeting, the chief minister said she had accepted 99% of the doctors’ “demands because they are our younger brothers”.

Doctors had become more vocal for the removal of the Kolkata Police Commissioner after the CBI arrested Dr Sandip Ghosh, former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital and Abhijit Mondal, officer-in-charge of Tala Police Station (under which the RG Kar Hospital falls) last week and alleged that they tampered with evidence. This lent credence to the doctors’ claim that the case was not handled properly by the Kolkata Police and there was an attempted cover-up.

As their agitation entered its 39th day, the doctors said earlier on Tuesday that the state government accepting their demands was a big victory but a final call on withdrawing their agitation would be taken only after the state government implements its announcements “in true spirit”.