NEW DELHI: MLAs from both the ruling AAP and opposition BJP held protests on the Delhi Assembly premises on Wednesday.
While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs held a demonstration demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has been arrested by the ED in an excise policy-linked money-laundering case, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators and their supporters raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Both parties staged their protests simultaneously.
As the BJP legislators took out a march carrying placards, the AAP leaders and workers, dressed in yellow T-shirts, started raising slogans against Modi and following the saffron party's MLAs.
Leader of Opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said Kejriwal should resign as chief minister.
"The chief minister should resign from his post. There are almost a dozen allegations of corruption against him. If the excise policy was world class, why did he take it back? We are demanding Kejriwal's resignation," Bidhuri said.
Meanwhile, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva also held a demonstration outside the entrance of the Assembly premises around 12 noon with a group of about 100 party workers from Mayur Vihar, along with the party's Mahila Morcha and Yuva Morcha office-bearers, demanding the resignation of Kejriwal.
Dressed in black, the BJP workers gathered at the Vidhan Sabha entrance gate and started raising slogans.
Sachdeva himself scaled over the gate shouting slogans.
Police did not allow them to enter the Assembly premises.
The security personnel locked the main gate and subsequently, detained the protesters.
Sachdeva said the people of Delhi are frustrated watching the illegal political melodrama of the Kejriwal government and claimed that they will teach a lesson to the AAP-Congress alliance in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls by totally rejecting them.
He said two ministers of the Delhi government are already in jail and claimed that Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj might also land in prison soon for allegedly issuing fake letters.
Before the commencement of the Assembly proceedings, the AAP MLAs staged a protest outside the House and raised slogans demanding Kejriwal's immediate release from the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) custody.
Party leaders, including Atishi and Bharadwaj, were part of the protest.
They were dressed in yellow T-shirts with slogans like "Main Bhi Kejriwal" and "Modi ka Sabse Bada Dar Kejriwal" written on those.
The AAP national convenor was arrested by the ED on March 21 and subsequently, remanded to the federal agency's custody till March 28 by a court here.
