Former Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former Kerala Chief Minister were detained on Saturday as she tried to join the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest in the Capital.
Several other opposition and student leaders were also detained as they tried to join the Jantar Mantar protest.
Mamata Banerjee had arrived in Delhi on Friday to join the Opposition protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. She was part of the INDIA bloc delegation that met President Droupadi Murmu on Friday evening to demand Kumar’s sacking. After the meeting, Gandhi said the opposition leaders would go to the Supreme Court on Monday to meet Chief Justice Surya Kant and hand over a memorandum to him too, as they wanted to avail all options available. The INDIA alliance has also announced a major protest against the alleged Election Commission irregularities on Monday.
The Trinamool Congress chief was detained along with several of her party MPs from South Avenue in central Delhi, where she sat on a protest at a bus stand after being stopped by police.
“The government is misbehaving with us,” Banerjee said in a video statement from inside the police bus. During the meeting with the President, the Opposition leaders flagged the issue of their “vote chori” claims to demand the resignation of Gyanesh Kumar and repeal of all Assembly polls held in the last two years, with Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi saying he was “shocked” that the President did not deny the ‘election theft’ charge. Sources later said that claims made by Rahul Gandhi suggesting President Droupadi Murmu accepted assertions of ‘vote theft’ were incorrect.
