Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde calls Arvind Kejriwal a 'mad' CM

NEW DELHI: After being under constant attack from Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Wednesday called him a “mad chief minister”.

“When I was in Kherwadi police station in Mumbai’s Bandra area, I did not get leave because there were Sena (led) riots. Similarly, yesterday (in Delhi), because of a ‘veda mukhyamantri’ (mad chief minister) sitting there (on dharna), I had to cancel the leave of policemen,” Shinde said at a public meeting in Maharashtra on Wednesday.

“We are criticised for anything and everything we say. Now we want to know will anyone go and ask Shindeji for an apology for what he said?” said Dilip Pandey, AAP party spokesperson.

AAP’s rebellious MLA, Vinod Kumar Binny, said: “I don’t know what Shinde meant by his ‘mad’ remark, but what transpired in Delhi in last two days — no sorted person can do.”

Delhi Police Files Case Meanwhile, the Delhi Police lodged a case against unknown persons in connection with Arvind Kejriwal’s protest near Parliament, for obstructing public servants discharging duty and voluntarily causing grievous hurt to deter them from duty. There were violent clashes between the supporters of the Aam Aadmi Party and police on Tuesday. “The cases registered in connection with the agitation on January 20th and 21st will be investigated on merit,” the Delhi Police has said.

The Delhi government is also under pressure to take action against Law Minister Somnath Bharti on Wednesday after one of the Ugandan women assaulted in a midnight raid in south Delhi accused the law minister of leading a group that barged into her house and assaulted them.

The statement of the woman has been recorded before a magistrate by the Delhi Police in a separate case registered in the Khirki Village incident.

“We were attacked on Wednesday night by some Indians who were led by Somnath Bharti. We were harassed, we were beaten, they carried long sticks. They said we should leave their country or else they would kill us one by one,” the Ugandan woman said in her statement. The Delhi Commission for Women has also issued summons to Bharti to depose over the same allegations.

No Action Against Bharti

The party, however, ruled out any action against Bharti and, instead, backed him saying he wasn’t in the wrong. Bharti, however has been ordered by the party to mind his language as his recent remarks against senior lawyer Harish Salve and senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley drew a lot of flak from different quarters forcing AAP leader Yogendra Yadav to apologise on his behalf. Bharti has refused to make any comments on the demands for his removal as minister.