AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday apologised for his party supporters’ behaviour in Delhi and Lucknow while protesting his “detention” and urged them to stick to non-violence.
“It was going to happen… some of them retaliated after they were attacked… I apologise for their behaviour and I once again urge them to remain non-violent,” he told reporters in Bhuj in response to a query on the arrest of over a dozen AAP supporters in Delhi.
AAP supporters had on Wednesday clashed with BJP activists outside the saffron party headquarters in Delhi and Lucknow after Mr. Kejriwal’s car was damaged in Gujarat in retaliation to protests against his brief “detention” in the State.
On Wednesday, Mr. Kejriwal, who began his four-day tour of Gujarat, was detained for alleged violation of the model code of conduct by travelling in a long motorcade. Shortly later, he was allowed to go.
Fourteen AAP members were arrested after Delhi Police registered an FIR in connection with the clashes between supporters of the two parties in the national capital that left 28 people injured.
AAP workers had stormed the BJP head office on Ashoka Road in central Delhi protesting against Mr. Kejriwal’s ‘detention’ in Radhanpur in North Gujarat where he has gone to “assess” the development claims made by Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
In Lucknow, workers of Aam Aadmi Party, armed with brooms, had clashed with lathi-wielding activists of the BJP and fought pitched street battles outside the BJP office on Vidhan Sabha Marg in protest against their chief’s detention.
Mr. Kejriwal during his second day of Gujarat sojourn on Thursday will meet Sikh farmers settled in the state’s Kutch district.
