Kejriwal 'forced' to leave temple guesthouse in UP

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal and his parents were allegedly ‘forced’ to vacate the guest house they had been living in for the past several days at the famous Sankat Mochan temple complex in Varanasi.

Kejriwal was allegedly asked to leave the premises immediately and shift elsewhere, according to sources. The AAP leader and his parents have now shifted to a new home at Durga Kund locality in the temple town.

Sources said that a section of the temple office bearers as well as the devotees had strongly objected to the decision of the temple priest Vishwambhar Mishra to allow the AAP leader to live at the guest house inside the complex.

“The number of security personnel had increased substantially in the temple complex after Kejriwal's arrival...besides a large number of people

visited the AAP leader daily causing great inconvenience to the devotees, said a temple official.

“The devotees had complained that the temple had turned into a political arena”, the official added.

Mishra said that Kejriwal had arrived there on April 15 and had requested to allow him to stay there for a few days. “I had no idea that he planned to stay there for a long period”, Mishra added.

AAP leaders, however, alleged that Kejriwal had been forced out on the instruction of the BJP leaders. “It is an attempt to prevent the people of Varanasi to meet Kejriwal”, the AAP leaders said.

Court tells Kejri to appear or face action

A Delhi court on Saturday warned Arvind Kejriwal and three other AAP leaders that it would initiate “coercive process” if they fail to appear before it on May 24, in a criminal defamation complaint filed against them by Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal’s lawyer son Amit Sibal, PTI reports from New Delhi.

Metropolitan Magistrate (MM) Sunil Kumar Sharma told advocate Rahul Mehra, who appeared for Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Prashat Bhushan and Shazia Ilmi, that he should ensure that the accused appear before him on the next date of hearing.