New Delhi, May 21 (IANS) AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal was Wednesday sent to judicial custody in a defamation case filed by BJP leader Nitin Gadkari, hours after he apologised for resigning as Delhi's chief minister in February.<br /><br />Kejriwal, 45, was first sent to a lock-up in the court complex before being taken in a police van to the Tihar Central Jail, where a large number of Aam Aadmi Party workers promptly staged a noisy protest.<br /><br />Police detained several AAP leaders - Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh among others - when they refused to budge from the protest site.<br /><br />This led to a traffic jam in areas like Delhi Cantt in south Delhi.<br /><br />Another AAP leader, Yogendra Yadav was dragged from the protest site and put into a Delhi Police bus.<br /><br />Metropolitan Magistrate Gomati Manocha ordered the two-day judicial custody after Kejriwal, accused of slandering Gadkari by calling him "corrupt", refused to furnish a bail bond of Rs.10,000.<br /><br />"Let the accused be sent to judicial custody and be produced before the court May 23," she said.<br /><br />The judge gave the order after Kejriwal told the court: "I am fighting corruption. I will not seek bail as I have not done anything wrong."<br /><br />In keeping with a stand he took earlier, Kejriwal told the court he would not furnish a bail bond as the case was a political one.<br /><br />The judge asked: "What is the problem with furnishing a bail bond? You are representing the Aam Aadmi Party. I request you to behave as an aam aadmi (common man)."<br /><br />"This not a case where the accused, due to financial inability, is unable to furnish bail bond. The accused is just adamant..." then judge said.<br /><br />The sudden development came just after Kejriwal offered his first public apology for abruptly resigning as Delhi's chief minister Feb 14 and sought fresh elections in the capital.<br /><br />Kejriwal made the statement a day after he told Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung not to dissolve the 70-member house so that he could explore the possibility of again forming a minority government.<br /><br />But a pensive Kejriwal told the media: "The chances of forming a government are almost negligible. In such a situation, holding discussions does not make sense."<br /><br />"We have decided that we will prepare for elections (in Delhi)."<br /><br />Referring to his resignation after a 49-day stint following his failure to get the Jan Lokpal bill passed, Kejriwal said: "We made a mistake, and I apologise for it."<br /><br />After the December 2013 election produced a hung assembly, the Congress, with eight legislators, extended support to the 28-member AAP to form a minority government.<br /><br />Two Independents also backed the AAP, which had fought its first election after its birth the previous year.<br /><br />But the AAP government - later short of one party member - was shortlived. Kejriwal resigned after the Congress, BJP and others refused to let the Jan Lokpal bill pass in the house.<br /><br />Since then, Delhi has been under President's rule but the assembly was not dissolved. The AAP had earlier petitioned the judiciary to demand fresh elections in Delhi.<br /><br />The situation changed after the Bharatiya Janata Party won all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi this month.<br /><br />After being pushed to a distant third in the Lok Sabha battle, a section of Congress legislators seemed willing to again back an AAP government.<br /><br />Initially, the AAP leaders refused the offer. But there was pressure from a section of its own legislators to explore the possibility of government formation.<br /><br />Kejriwal said Wednesday that people in Delhi wanted him to again form a government.<br /><br />"Since the Lok Sabha election ended, I have been going around Delhi and people have said that we made a mistake (by resigning) and that we should not repeat the mistake."<br /><br />"They (public) asked us to form a government... Otherwise, they said, they will not forgive us," he added.<br /><br />"We will apologise to the people and (seek) a majority in the house so that we can form a government for the next five years. We will form a corruption free government."<br /><br />The Congress said it will not prop up an AAP government "at any cost".<br /><br />Its general secretary Shakeel Ahmed told IANS: "The AAP is exposed now. Kejriwal is a hypocrite of the highest degree."<br /><br />BJP leader Harsh Vardhan, a legislator now elected to the Lok Sabha, said his party wanted fresh polls.<br /><br />"We are ready for elections in Delhi and have been saying this since December," Harsh Vardhan told IANS. "A fresh election is the only option."
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