New Delhi, August 26: Erstwhile Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal and five others on Sunday assembled in front of the residences of the Prime Minister and Congress and BJP party presidents for a protest on the coal block allocation issue but were detained.
All the six — Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Gopal Rai, Kumar Vishas, Sanjay Singh and another person — were later released from custody after being detained for about an hour at the Mandir Marg police station, where their supporters staged a protest and prevented police from taking them to Bawana.
Mr. Kejriwal and Mr. Gopal were picked up from outside Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s residence while Mr. Sisodia and Mr. Vishwas were detained from outside 10 Janpath, the residence of the Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. Mr. Sanjay Singh and another person were detained from outside BJP chief Nitin Gadkari’s residence.
The activists had announced the gherao of the residences of these three leaders alleging that Congress and BJP were hand-in-glove in corruption and involved in the allocation of coal blocks.
Delhi Police had warned against staging a gherao at these places citing violation of prohibitory orders.
Though the activists had announced that they will gather at Jantar Mantar and march towards the residences of the leaders, Mr. Kejriwal and his aides took others by surprise and came to the protest venues where they were detained.
“What wrong are we doing? We are just sitting quietly on the footpath. At least we should be told why we are being detained,” Mr. Kejriwal said. A spokesperson for the protesters said they did not violate prohibitory orders as only two persons had gathered at the spot.
“When Raj Thackeray takes thousands of his supporters without permission for a protest, police provide protection. What kind of politics is this?” he said.
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