New Delhi, Oct 13 (IANS) India Against Corruption (IAC) activist Arvind Kejriwal staged a sit-in at Parliament Street here Saturday demanding the arrest of Law Minister Salman Khurshid and his wife Louise over allegations of irregularities against theirNGO.
"We are ready to be arrested but we won't stop our protest till our demands are met," Kejriwal told IANS.
Kejriwal, who led a protest in the capital Friday, was detained along with 150 others at a stadium in Bawana on the outskirts of Delhi. He was let off late Friday night, but the activist and his supporters refused to leave the stadium till Saturday morning.
Kejriwal, accompanied by his associates Gopal Rai and Manish Sisodia, reached Parliament Street Saturday morning, announcing an indefinite protest.
Kejriwal's protest began following an expose by the TV Today Group that the union social welfare and empowerment ministry had granted Rs.71.50 lakh to the Khurshids' Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust for distributing tricycles and hearing aids to the disabled in 17 districts of Uttar Pradesh. However, the money was siphoned off, the expose alleged.
While Salman Khurshid is the president of the trust, his wife is the project director.
Louise Friday filed a civil defamation case in the Delhi High Court against the TV Today Group seeking damages of Rs.100 crore, said court sources.
"Khurshid and his wife should be arrested. If he remains in the council of ministers, he will destroy all the evidence that is available against him and his family, apart from coercing government officials to toe his line," said Kejriwal.
Slamming Kejriwal, Louise said that the IAC activist was an "ambulance chaser" and that it was unfair that Kejriwal was "using the handicap to try and build a political campaign".
Meanwhile, Delhi Police said that four companies of police personnel had been deployed at Parliament Street and that the activists can protest at the site if they do not try to march to the prime minister's house again.
