Detained anti corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal has said that he would continue his protest at Parliament street if he was let off by the police.
The hard position taken by the activist who along with associates Manish Sisodia and Gopal Rai were detained today follows the refusal of the Prime Minister's Office to take a memorandum they wanted to give Prime Minister Manmohan SIngh.
When we left in the morning we thought we will hand over the memorandum to the Prime Minister and leave. Earlier PMO officials had received the memoranda from us rather than push the matter further, said a member of India Against Corruption VIbhav Kumar.
He had not gone with a plan for a stand off with the Government, he said.
India Against Corruption in a statement called upon all those who sympathised with the cause to come forward and join the satyagraha for the removal of the Law Minister.
Kejriwal told reporters in Bawana where he is detained that he would now end his protest only when Law Minister Salman Khurshid was arrested. He is powerful and can destroy evidence against the NGO registered in the name of his wife.
If I am let off I will go back to Parliament street and resume my protest till my demand is accepted, he said.The protests were initiated by disability groups led by National Disability Party or Rashtriya Viklang Party seeking arrest of Salman Khurshid.
His NGO Zakir Hussain Trust is accused of taking funds worth Rs 71 lakh from Social Justice Ministry for charity related work for disabled people in 17 districts of Uttar Pradesh. Papers with Kejriwal showed that the signatures of district officials in 10 districts were allegedly forged to show that funds were used for running camps for disabled.
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Nothing was done for the disabled with the funds and this has been affirmed by the district officials following which the Central ministry itself sought an inquiry into it, says Kejriwal.
The State Government carried out a probe which confirmed these facts, he says.
Salman Khurshid has denied these as false and has criticised the activists as being worse than 'gutter snipes'.
His wife has said that the State investigation followed her own queries regarding the happenings in the districts and she was not aware of wrong doings.