LIVE | Delhi court sends Kejriwal to ED custody till March 28
AAP MLAs, councillors reach Kejriwal's residence, allege his family 'placed under house arrest'
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs and councillors reached Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence in Civil Lines to meet his family on Friday, a day after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate.
AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak said, "We have come here to meet his family. They are not being allowed to meet anyone. They have been placed under house arrest. Nobody knows what state they are in." AAP MLAs, including Jarnail Singh and Raaj Kumar Anand, and Delhi mayor Shelly Oberoi were among those present outside Kejriwal's residence. The AAP leaders raised slogans of 'tyranny won't last' and 'house arrest bandh karo'.
Kejriwal, the AAP national convenor, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday night in connection with an excise policy-linked money laundering case.
Kejriwal's arrest attack on democracy, says Chhattisgarh AAP
The Aam Aadmi Party's Chhattisgarh unit on Friday staged a protest to denounce the arrest of its national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by the Enforcement Directorate in an excise policy-linked money laundering case.
Around 100 party leaders and workers holding AAP flags and the tricolour gathered at Ambedkar Chowk in Raipur and raised slogans against the BJP-led central government. Talking to PTI at the protest site, state AAP secretary Priyanka Shukla hit out at the BJP-led Centre and claimed they want 'one nation, one party' rule and run the government like a dictator wherein they want to control everything.
AAP leaders storm social media with 'IndiaWithKejriwal' hashtag
Aam Aadmi Party leaders and MLAs on Friday started a hashtag campaign "IStandWithKejriwal" and "IndiaWithKejriwal" on social media platform X to garner support for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a connection with an excise policy-linked money laundering case.
AAP's allies in the INDIA bloc have also extended support to the party's national convener and condemned his arrest. Hashtags such as 'DeshKejriwalKeSathHain' and 'ArvindKejriwalArrested' are among the top five trends in India on X so far.
Many AAP leaders, including Saurabh Bharadwaj, Kailash Gahlot, Durgesh Pathak, Shelly Oberoi, Jasmine Shah, and Sanjeev Jha used the hashtag "IStandWithKejriwal" and "IndiaWithKejriwal" in their posts on X. Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, who was detained by police, posted a video on X from Alipur Police Station of him and several other AAP workers singing 'mera rang de basanti chola'. In a separate post, he wrote "the prison of any dictator is not strong enough to imprison democracy for long," sharing a poster with "IStandWithKejriwal" written on it.
AAP, Congress workers protest across Gujarat
Leaders and party workers of the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress on Friday protested in many parts of Gujarat against the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
While demonstrations were organised in major cities like Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat and Bhavnagar, police detained nearly 130 protesters, including AAP Gujarat president Isudan Gadhavi and party MLAs Umesh Makwana and Hemant Khava.
In Ahmedabad, AAP and Congress workers gathered near Lal Darwaja area and shouted slogans against the BJP government at the Centre, accusing it of framing Kejriwal in a false case. “There is absolutely no evidence against Kejriwal. First, they incarcerated Manish Sisodia and now Kejriwal out of political vendetta. ED officials who used to extort money from people through electoral bonds have arrested a popular CM,” said Gadhavi before he along with nearly 20 protestors were detained by the city police. In Surat, a group of workers and leaders of AAP and Congress were detained.
Totally disappointed with Kejriwal, says former colleague
Former Supreme Court Judge N Santosh Hegde said on Friday that he was "totally disappointed" with Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was arrested in connection with an excise policy linked money-laundering case.
Justice (retd) Hegde, a former Solicitor General of India, was among the key personalities, including Kejriwal, behind the then 'India Against Corruption' movement, spearheaded by Anna Hazare, more than a decade ago, which had at the time brought the issue of corruption into sharp focus. "It clearly shows that when in power, greed overtakes you," he said on the case against Arvind Kejriwal