New Delhi: Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said that if Arvind Kejriwal had resigned before going to jail, we would not have had to introduce the three Constitutional amendment bills. Shah said that although several ministers and Chief Ministers of Delhi went to jail, they resigned beforehand. Shah argued that the unprecedented situation necessitated the change in the constitution.
Amit Shah, in an interview with Manorama News, said, “I asked people of this country in the Parliament that do they want any Chief Minister or Prime Minister to run the government from jail? It’s a question of morality, and they (opposition) are asking why there was no such provision in the Constitution before.”
“When the Constitution was made, such shameful people were not expected who would not resign despite going to jail. In 75 years of Delhi’s history, many ministers, Chief Ministers went to jail, but they resigned before being arrested. But an odd incident happened where the Chief Minister of Delhi (Arvind Kejriwal) was running the government from jail. Therefore, we need to change the constitution,” Shah said.
‘Had Kejriwal resigned, we would not have to bring these laws’
BJP has been in power for a long but we did not bring this amendment as it was not needed. If Kejriwal had resigned, we would not have to change the Constitution. It is the responsibility of both the government and the opposition to maintain the standard of morality in governance.”
Bills referred to Joint Parliamentary Committee
On Thursday, Amit Shah introduced three constitutional amendment bills, which laid the rules for the removal of the Prime Minister, Chief Minister or any other Minister if they are arrested for 30 days in a row for any serious charge. The three bills are (1) Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill, 2025; (2) Constitution (One Hundred and Thirtieth Amendment) Bill, 2025; (3) Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2025.
A motion to refer the three bills to a joint committee of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha was also passed by the Parliament. The committee will be bound to submit all its reports on the first day of the last week of the next Parliamentary Session.