Delhi liquor case verdict – a moment of glory for Kejriwal, AAP

New Delhi: Pictures of former Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal crying in front of TV cameras on Friday, soon after a Delhi court discharged him and others in the excise scam, will haunt the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for a long time to come.

"Kejriwal brasht nahi hai (Kejriwal is not corrupt)," the sobbing AAP supremo told reporters with close aide Manish Sisodia by his side.

The court verdict is a huge political victory for Kejriwal and his party and will undoubtedly boost the morale of the AAP cadre.

Besides Kejriwal and Sisodia, the court also gave a clean chit to Telangana Jagruthi president K Kavitha and 20 others in the politically charged liquor policy case.

While Sisodia was in jail for about 530 days, Kejriwal spent around 156 days (across two periods) in prison.

The verdict has clearly put the BJP as well as the Congress, which had first filed a complaint against the previous AAP government's liquor policy and alleged a scam in it, on a mat.

The BJP had come to power in Delhi in 2025 solely riding on the allegations of corruption against Kejriwal and other AAP leaders.

The saffron party, along with the Congress, had succeeded in creating a negative public perception against Kejriwal, resulting in the ouster of AAP from Delhi after ruling the city state for consecutive 10 years from 2015.

While the BJP was able to convincingly form the government, the Congress remained consistent and yet again failed to improve its score. Since 2015, the Congress has not won a single seat in Delhi.

It is no hidden secret that the BJP considers Kejriwal and his AAP a bigger political threat than the Congress. The AAP is emerging as a key player in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, and also in Goa.

In Punjab, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann sounds confident of retaining power in the border state and with the Congress leaders at each other's throats, the victory doesn't seem impossible for the AAP.

Even a large section of Delhi voters, who had voted in favour of the BJP, is visibly unhappy with Chief Minister Rekha Gupta's style of functioning and her lackadaisical approach to various problems confronting the national capital, with air pollution at the top of the list.

Following the verdict, Kejriwal and other AAP leaders are expected to up their ante against the BJP and seek fresh elections in Delhi, arguing that the saffron party has lost the moral authority to rule the national capital.

Post Sheila Dikshit, the Congress has functioned like a rudderless organisation in Delhi. The party lacks the strategy and determination to restore its past glory.

At times, Delhi Congress leaders appear clueless as far as their strategy is concerned. Take, for example, the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the 2025 assembly polls.

The party fought the Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the AAP, hailing Kejriwal and condemning the CBI and ED actions against him in the liquor scam. Within months, the Congress leaders were heard criticising Kejriwal on Delhi roads and streets and levelling the allegations of corruption against the AAP leaders.

What changed in just a few months? The mood swings of the Congress confused the Delhi voters as they decided to give the saffron party a chance to rule the city state with the hope that the triple engine BJP administrations (Centre, state and MCD) will ensure massive development of the national capital.

Even as that promise remains unfulfilled, it remains to be seen how Kejriwal's moment of redemption in the form of the court verdict on Friday was going to change the political dynamics in Delhi and other parts of the country.

Those conversant with the oratorical skills and political acumen of Kejriwal claim that he will definitely exploit the court verdict to his benefit and try to gain maximum public sympathy out of it.

As his opponents hope that the higher courts will overturn the Delhi court's verdict, it is a clear advantage to Kejriwal till then.