No, Kejriwal Did Not Say He Will Resign As CM To Support Wrestlers' Protest

Several posts claiming that Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal has announced that he will resign from the chief ministerial position to support the ongoing wrestlers' protest are false.

BOOM found that the claim was amplified by a parody handle named AAP Rajasthan / Mission 2021 / Seats 150 - Parody on Twitter.

Wrestlers including Vinesh Phogat, Sakshee Malikkh and Bajrang Punia have been protesting against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president and Uttar Pradesh's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Brij Bhushan Saran Singh accusing him of sexually harassing multiple women athletes. On May 30, the wrestlers announced that they will immerse their medals in the Ganges as a part of their protest but halted their decision as Naresh Tikait, a farmers' leader, promised them a solution within five days.

Arvind Kejriwal also extended his support to the protesting wrestlers, met them in New Delhi's Jantar Mantar and in a recent tweet, urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene.

Delhi BJP leader Krishan Gahlot tweeted a picture of Kejriwal with the athletes with a caption in Hindi: " Breaking!!! Kejriwal will resign from the post of CM of Delhi in support of wrestlers. Even then, if the government does not agree, then (he) can even leave the country."

(Original Text in Hindi: Breaking!!! पहलवानों के समर्थन में केजरीवाल देंगे दिल्ली के CM पद से इस्तीफा। फिर भी अगर सरकार नहीं मानी तो देश छोड़ कर भी जा सकते है।)

Click here to view the tweet.

The same claim is also being circulated by multiple users on Facebook.

Click here to view one such post.

Fact Check

BOOM first ran a related keyword search to verify the authenticity of the viral claim but found no credible news report saying Kejriwal announced to quit from his Delhi chief ministerial post to show solidarity with the wrestlers' protest.

On the other hand, we found that a parody Twitter handle, AAP Rajasthan / Mission 2021 / Seats 150 - Parody and username "@18Kishann", tweeted the same on May 30, 2023.

Click here to view the archive of the tweet.

The bio of the handle reads: "Parody Account of AAP Rajasthan | Not affiliated with any Political Party | All tweets are Satire | Just for Fun | Fan of Arvind Kejariwal".

For further verification, BOOM also reached out to the Aam Aadmi Party to know the authenticity of the viral claim.

Priyanka Kakkar, an AAP spokesperson, confirmed to us that the news is false and there is no truth in the viral posts.