New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party’s 48-hour high-voltage drama that virtually held Delhiites to ransom ended late on Tuesday evening with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal claiming “victory”.
Calling off his two-day protest, which had turned violent earlier on Tuesday, Kejriwal said that the judicial inquiry ordered against some police officers was being expedited, the Centre had agreed to send two police officers on leave and four persons had been arrested for separate incidents.
His critics, however, described this as a “climbdown” and a “face-saver as he was finding it difficult to sustain the agitation”.
The BJP, on the other hand, said that the Centre was “blinking” in the face of threats by an “anarchist”, and accused the Congress-led UPA government of being “weak”.
After several scuffles erupted between AAP protesters and the police during the day, an angry Kejriwal hit out at the government, threatening to “flood Rajpath” with lakhs of supporters on Republic Day, prompting moves towards conciliation.
Next: Arvind Kejriwal ends dharna, two cops sent on leave
Lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung appealed to the CM to call off his protest in view of the security preparations needed ahead of Republic Day.
Sources said that the decision to offer an olive branch to Kejriwal, which also gave him an escape route, was taken by the top Congress leadership.
Amid applause and cheers, Kejriwal said that Jung had appealed to him that in view of the sacrosanct occasion of Republic Day and the perceived security situation, the ongoing dharna outside Parliament House be withdrawn.
He said that Jung had said the station house officer of the Malviya Nagar police station and the officer in charge of the Paharganj PCR van would be sent on leave.
The CM had sought action against the Malviya Nagar SHO for not conducting a raid against some African nationals over drug trafficking and prostitution allegations, and had also demanded action against the officer heading the Paharganj police station after a Danish woman’s gangrape in the area.
