AAP alleges Arvind Kejriwal’s movement still under restriction, Delhi Police deny claim
The Delhi chief minister had on Tuesday alleged that he was put under house arrest after he met protesting farmers.
The Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday alleged that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s movement was still restricted and the main gate of his residence was kept closed by the police, reported PTI. The Delhi Police, however, denied the charge.
On Tuesday, the party had claimed that Kejriwal was put under house arrest after he met farmers protesting against the Centre’s agriculture reform laws at the city’s Singhu border. The police had dismissed those claims as well.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, AAP spokesperson Raghav Chadha said there was an atmosphere of “undeclared emergency” around the chief minister’s residence. “I am telling you with full responsibility that the movement of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is still restricted at the behest of the [Union] home minister,” Chadha alleged. “The main gate of the chief minister’s residence is still closed.”
He questioned if the restrictions were imposed because Kejriwal did not give permission to the Centre last month to convert nine stadiums in Delhi as temporary prisons to detain protesting farmers.
“The entrance that everyone uses to enter the CM’s residence and meet him remains closed even now,” Chadha added. “Access to that entrance has been blocked as four to five members of the BJP are camping outside the CM’s residence, with active assistance from Delhi Police.”
However, a senior police officer said there was no restriction on Kejriwal’s movement, according to PTI. Unnamed sources also said that the chief minister left his residence at 11 am on Wednesday, to attend a programme.
On Tuesday, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and several other AAP members protested outside Kejriwal’s residence after he alleged that he was put under house arrest. Later in the evening, the chief minister said that he had planned to meet the protesting farmers not as a chief minister, but as a “common man”.