New Delhi [India]: All the parties of the Opposition bloc INDIA will hold a joint mega rally on March 31 to register their protest against Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal's arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in the alleged Liquor policy money laundering case, party MP Raghav Chadha said on Sunday.
The AAP leader in a post on X, said that the rally will be held to "save the country's democracy" and stand in solidarity with Arvind Kejriwal.
"INDIA that is Bharat, will unitedly protest against Arvind Kejriwal Ji's illegal and outrightly political arrest. All INDIA parties to hold a joint mega rally on 31st March," Chadha said.
He further said that the mega rally will take place at Ramlila Maidan in the national capital.
"Historic Ramlila Maidan in Delhi will witness lacs of people coming together to save India's democracy and stand in solidarity with #ArvindKejriwal," he added.
The Enforcement Directorate arrested Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal earlier in the week on charges of corruption in the Delhi excise policy case.
The case pertains to alleged irregularities in formulating and implementing the Delhi excise policy 2021-22, which was later scrapped.
While Kejriwal was not named in the FIRs registered by the ED or the Central Bureau of Investigation in the Delhi excise policy case, his name first found a mention in the ED's chargesheet wherein the agency claimed that he allegedly spoke to one of the main accused, Sameer Mahendru, in a video call and asked him to continue working with co-accused and AAP communications-in-charge Vijay Nair.
Nair was among the first people to be arrested by CBI in the case, in 2022. Subsequently, former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh were arrested in connection with the case.
Several leaders of the INDIA bloc have come out in support of Arvind Kejriwal and accused the BJP and the Union government of arm-twisting the opposition.
However, the BJP has denied all the allegations.
INDIA bloc is a coalition of over 20 opposition parties formed last year to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance in the general elections, dates for which were announced earlier in the month.
Meanwhile, in response to the protests held by the AAP workers in Delhi against the arrest of Kejriwal, Bhartiya Janata Party workers, in the presence of Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva, staged a demonstration and burned effigies of the Delhi CM.
Speaking to ANI, Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva said, "Holi is a festival of goodness over evil. Today we have done the Holika dahan of corruption. If there is one face of corruption in Delhi, that is Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Each and every delhite should wish for a Kejriwal free government, a corruption free government."
—ANI