Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was stopped when he was headed for dinner with an auto-rickshaw driver in Ahmedabad.
New Delhi: As he headed for dinner with an auto-rickshaw driver in Ahmedabad, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday (September 12, 2022) got into a heated argument with a Gujarat cop over security protocols. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener, who accepted auto-rickshaw driver Vikram Dantani’s invite to have dinner with him at his home, hit out at police officials as he didn’t want to take the security cover. In a video shared by AAP on its official Twitter handle, Kejriwal, who was sitting with Gujarat AAP president Gopal Italia and the party’s national joint general secretary Isudan Gadhvi in Dantani’s auto-rickshaw, can be heard saying that he will be responsible if anything happens to him
“I’m a public representative, I want to go to the public and you are stopping us. It’s a dhabba (spot) on Gujarat’s security,” Kejriwal said as the cop kept repeating that it’s a protocol.
“It is this protocol that has saddened the people of Gujarat,” the AAP chief added.
“Your leaders don’t go out in public. Tell your leaders that they should go to the public by breaking the protocol sometimes,” Kejriwal told the police officer.
“Aapne toh mujhe qaid karke rakha hai. Aap mujhe arrest nahi kar sakte, ye arrest hai (You have kept me imprisoned. You can’t arrest me, this is arrest),” he further said.
After the argument, AAP shared another video where a cop was seen sitting beside the auto-rickshaw driver who had picked up Kejriwal from the hotel, while two police cars escorted the three-wheeler to Dantani’s house.
Kejriwal and other state AAP leaders were then seen having dinner with Vikram Dantani.
Earlier on Monday afternoon, Kejriwal, who is on a two-day Gujarat visit as part of the AAP’s campaign for the upcoming Assembly polls, addressed a gathering of auto-rickshaw drivers in Ahmedabad.
After his address, auto-rickshaw driver Dantani requested Kejriwal to have dinner at his home.
“I am your fan. In a video I saw on social media, you went to have dinner at the home of an auto driver in Punjab. So, will you come to my home for dinner?” he asked. The Delhi CM immediately replied in the affirmative to the invitation.
“Autowalas of Punjab and Gujarat love me. Should I come today evening at 8 pm,” Kejriwal said and urged him to pick him up from his hotel and take him to his house in his auto-rickshaw.
As agreed, Dantani reached the five-star hotel on Sindhu Bhavan Road to pick up the Delhi CM late in the evening.