Is 75-year retirement rule only for other BJP leaders and not Modi?: Kejriwal to PM

On Saturday, Kejriwal said that voting for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would be voting for Amit Shah as PM, claiming Modi would retire next year. Reacting to it, Union home minister Shah on Saturday said that Modi will continue to serve the country in the top post after the Lok Sabha elections and complete his term

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday, addressing a press conference on AAP’s “10 guarantees” for Lok Sabha polls at the party headquarters on Sunday, sought to know from Prime Minister Narendra Modi if the 75-year retirement rule was only for other party leaders or if he would retire next year, and urged him to name his successor.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal addresses a press conference at the AAP office. (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

“PM Modi will retire next year and it is not clear who will fulfil his guarantees. But I am going nowhere,” he said, pitching the polls as “Kejriwal ki guarantees versus Modi’s guarantees”.

On Saturday, Kejriwal said that voting for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would be voting for Amit Shah as the PM, claiming Modi would retire next year. Reacting to it, Union home minister Shah on Saturday said that Modi will continue to serve the country in the top post after the Lok Sabha elections and complete his term. Shah said that Kejriwal and the INDIA bloc should not be happy when Modi turns 75, as he will continue to lead the country till 2029 and there is no confusion on this.

“I will like to tell Arvind Kejriwal and company and the whole INDI Alliance, that there is no need for you to feel happy when Modi turns 75... Modi will complete the term and will continue to lead the country till 2029. There is no confusion in the BJP on this,” Shah said on Saturday.

However, on Sunday, Kejriwal chose to double down on his claims.

“In 2014, PM Modi made a rule for BJP that leaders attaining 75 years of age would retire and no responsibility would be placed on them. They retired LK Advani, MM Joshi, Sumitra Mahajan, Yashwant Sinha and Rita Bahuguna Joshi based on this rule. Based on this rule, September 2025 would be retirement of PM Modi. BJP leaders are saying that this rules doesn’t apply to him, but these are just the sentiments of the party leader... PM Modi has not said anything about it,” he said.

Kejriwal said: “The same rule as per which LK Advani ji was made to retire, I’m sure the PM will not stop it from being implemented in his case as well… Let the PM say that ‘this rule does not apply to me, that it was only made for Advani ji’. I don’t think the PM will say this,” he said.

Kejriwal said that Modi should announce his successor. “Otherwise, it will lead to a lot of disputes after him,” he said.

The AAP national convener claimed that Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath would also be sidelined. “All BJP leaders said that the 75-year rule does not apply to Modi ji. But no one disputed the statement that Yogi would be removed in the next two months, after the elections. He will be removed as UP CM,” Kejriwal said.

((BJP reaction to be added here))