The confrontation between the Aam Aadmi Party and the BJP in the national capital intensified as the ruling party leaders, including MLA Atishi and Raghav Chadha were today detained by the Delhi Police ahead of a planned protests against alleged corruption in the BJP-ruled Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
Atishi was detained near the residence of Lt Governor Anil Baijal as she was on her way there to join a party protest against alleged misappropriation of Rs 2,457 crore by the MCD. The party alleged that she was manhandled by the police.
The AAP said there was police deployment outside Chadha's residence to ensure that he was detained the moment he stepped out to leave for the protest at Union Home Minister Amit Shah's residence.
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The other leaders detained included Sanjeev Jha, Rituraj Govind and Kuldeep Kumar. All the leaders were later released by the police.
The police had rejected the AAP's request for permission to hold the protests in view of the COVID-19 protocol in place in the capital.
The AAP has alleged a misappropriation of Rs 2,457 crore in the North Delhi and South Delhi municipal corporations and demanded an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the purported scam.
“This is the biggest scam so far in Delhi. This is even bigger than the scam witnessed in the Commonwealth Games preparation in Delhi under the rule of Sheila Dikshit,” Atishi said at a press conference later in the day.
She said this money should have been spent in salaries of doctors, nurses, teachers and safai karamcharis, and who have remained unpaid for months. “We wanted to urge the LG and the Home Minister to order a CBI inquiry. And what do the LG and the Home Minister do? They have us detained by the police,” she said.
She said the manner in which Shah has cracked down on the AAP leaders through the Delhi Police makes it clear that BJP leaders are involved in the scam.
“We had informed the Delhi Police that we would go to the Union Home Minister's House to urge him to order a CBI inquiry into this scam. But a large contingent of police was sent to my residence to not allow me to step out. And when I came out to go to the home minister's residence, I was placed under detention,” Chadha said at the briefing.
He said the Delhi Police was facilitating a protest by BJP leaders outside the residence of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. BJP leaders have been holding a sit-in outside Kejriwal's house demanding release of funds for the MCD. “There are different rules for the BJP and for us. Why should the pandemic protocol apply only to us?” he asked.
Today's confrontation comes days after Kejriwal was allegedly put under virtual detention by the police at his residence and not allowed to join the farmers' protest on December 8. A few days back, according to the AAP, there was a mob attack by BJP workers at the residence of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
