Sanjeev Jha was headed to Kapil Mishra's official residence when he was bundled into a bus by the police
Highlights
- Sanjeev Jha tried to go on a hunger strike but was hauled off by police
- Delhi Police said Mr Jha had not taken permission for his protest
- The AAP lawmaker was trying to counter Kapil Mishra's hunger strike
A lawmaker from Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party, Sanjeev Jha made an unsuccessful attempt to go on a hunger strike on Saturday to counter sacked minister Kapil Mishra's fast in Delhi but was hauled off to the police station before he could begin, triggering a fresh bout of verbal duel between the party and the former minister.
If Kapil Mishra can go on a hunger strike, why can't Sanjeev Jha, asked AAP's Sanjay Singh, suggesting that the police's refusal to let their legislator protest outside Mr Mishra's house implied the BJP and the sacked minister were on the same side. Officers of Delhi Police, which reports to the central government where the BJP is in power, have pointed that Mr Jha had not taken permission for his protest.
Mr Jha was headed to the sacked minister's official residence when he was bundled into a bus by the police. He had called his hunger strike a peaceful protest against the former minister's lies.
Mr Mishra hit back, accusing the Chief Minister of using legislators as a "shield". "You (Kejriwal) made a strategy to use MLAs as a shield. However, only one MLA came forward to be that shield," he said in an open letter to his former boss.
Once considered a staunch loyalist of Arvind Kejriwal, sacked water minister Mr Mishra has been attacking the chief minister and his former colleagues in the Delhi Cabinet after he was sacked on Tuesday for what the party called was a poor performance.
A key charge was that he had seen law minister Satyendar Jain hand over Rs 2 crore to the Chief Minister, a bribe for a land deal. AAP leaders including Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh have repeatedly dismissed the charges. Mr Kejriwal, who had led a street movement against corruption that eventually spawned AAP that he leads, hasn't spoken an awful lot in public since the charges were made.
On Twitter too, Mr Kejriwal has taken to retweeting others rather than speak much on the charges. It was also through a retweet that he had confirmed the decision to sack Mr Mishra.
Mr Mishra, in contrast, has adopted an allegation-a-day strategy during hunger strike that entered the fourth day on Saturday, raising questions about foreign trips by AAP leaders, their complicity in trying to scuttle a probe into Rs 400 crore scandal over water tankers.
It is a strategy that he intends to keep working on. On Friday, Mr Mishra promised "the next batch of expose on Sunday" that would give people who trusted AAP "a jolt".