Police refused permission to 'India Against Corruption', led by Arvind Kejriwal, for holding a dharna at Jantar Mantar from where they plan to march for the 'gherao', seeking a fresh undertaking to abide by stringent conditions to avert any law and order problem.
Two days after the activists announced that they will 'gherao' Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Race Course Road residence and that of Gadkari here, Kejriwal today said they will also protest outside the residences of Gandhi and Chief Ministers of opposition-ruled states Chhattisgarh (Raman Singh), Madhya Pradesh (Shivraj Singh Chouhan) and Odisha (Naveen Patnaik).
Differences over targeting BJP came to fore when Kiran Bedi came out in public saying they need to focus only on the party in power. However, both Bedi and Kejriwal sought to downplay the differences.
"I fully support Kejriwal's call for Jantar Mantar rally. While I feel we need to focus on party in power, I respect his and others view to cover all...This is time for 'a united front against corruption'. If we are fragmented, the corrupt will continue to be in power to protect itself," Bedi tweeted.
Kejriwal said Bedi was "completely" with them and "there could be two viewpoints on any issue. But he admitted that "her viewpoint is slightly different".
"We welcome her viewpoint. But the question is by replacing Congress with BJP, will the situation change? Can BJP or Samajwadi Party give us better future. I think they can't," Kejriwal said. He had announced the protest alleging that Congress and BJP were hand-in-glove on the coal block allocation issue. MORE
