Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal was punched in the neck on Friday by a 19-year-old resident of Jamia Nagar, Abdul Wahid, in Delhi’s Dakshinpuri area.
“Mr. Kejriwal was punched in the neck by a person who suddenly climbed on to the open jeep to garland him,” said AAP’s South Delhi candidate Col. Devinder Sehrawat in support of whom Mr. Kejriwal was campaigning.
As Mr. Kejriwal’s convoy reached the Dakshinpuri area, supporters came forward to garland him. In the melee, he was punched by Mr. Wahid, who was immediately surrounded by AAP supporters and roughed up by some of them before being handed over to the police.
“Arvind [Kejriwal] took a few minutes to gather himself after the incident. He then climbed on the bonnet of the vehicle and appealed to AAP supporters to not react violently,” said Col. Sehrawat, adding that the police had reached the scene and the youth was handed over to them.
Soon after the incident, the AAP leader’s road show ended abruptly even though he was expected to cover other areas such as Saket, Mehrauli and Lado Sarai.
“The country has been seeing a miracle for the last one year. A new party was formed and everybody said we will get 4-5 seats in the Delhi Assembly elections. We got 28 seats and formed a minority government,” Mr. Kejriwal said, addressing the crowd.
He added that he quit the Chief Minister's post because both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party did not allow the Jan Lokpal Bill to be passed in the Assembly.
The police have registered two separate cases of assault — one against Mr. Wahid and the other against AAP supporters.
