AAP demands Manoj Tiwari's arrest, Home Minister's intervention on Signature Bridge clash

A day after a ruckus at the inauguration of Signature Bridge, the AAP on Monday called the incident a "pre-planned conspiracy" and demanded intervention of Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

"BJP MP Manoj Tiwari and his goons damaged Delhi government property, threw water bottles at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and resorted to violence at the programme. He should be arrested for this and Rajnath Singh, being the Home Minister, should intervene," Delhi's north-eastern Lok Sabha in-charge Dilip Pandey said.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader said that the BJP is frustrated and is afraid of defeat in Delhi.

"First, they deleted lakhs of voters' names from the electoral list out of frustration. Now, they disrupted the inauguration by creating a ruckus, chanting Modi's name?" Pandey said.

He said it was the BJP that started the "tradition" of not inviting Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to major programmes such as the inauguration of Delhi Metro line and ITO skywalk.

"All these programmes were completed with the Delhi government's initiative. We just took one step in carrying forward the tradition," he said.

Pandey alleged the BJP is controlling the police in Delhi and that was the reason the police have not filed an FIR against Tiwari "even though he held the Additional DCP by his collar in front of thousands of people".

"Sunday's incident just shows that the BJP keeps law-abiding people and police in its pocket," he said.

AAP leader Atishi, on the other hand, said that the incident was a serious "security lapse" by Delhi Police in protecting the Chief Minister.

"There is a possibility that the police were involved in the attack on Delhi Chief Minister. Otherwise, how is it possible that despite the presence of police and rapid action force, violent elements managed to reach near the stage?" she asked.

Ahead of the inauguration of the much-awaited Signature Bridge on Yamuna, BJP and AAP activists clashed, with BJP leader Manoj Tiwari attacking AAP workers and punching a policeman who intervened.

Tiwari, also a Lok Sabha member, got into a scuffle with AAP workers before the function started at the bridge, leading to violence.

--IANS

sd/prs