New Delhi, February 28 AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal will hold a public meeting at Jantar Mantar on Sunday, his first since he was discharged from the liquor policy case by a court.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had earlier on Saturday claimed that police was refusing permission for the rally.
Later, in a late-night press conference, AAP's Delhi state president Saurabh Bharadwaj, however, said police have granted permission and the rally will proceed as scheduled.
"Arvind Kejriwal, along with the entire leadership, will address a public meeting at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. Today, the Delhi Police had said that this meeting could not take place. After this, AAP leaders held discussions with senior officials of the Delhi Police," Bharadwaj said.
Now, as per the scheduled programme, the party's national convenor Kejriwal will address the gathering at Jantar Mantar, he added.
Responding to AAP leaders' claim that permission was initially being denied, Delhi Police officials said earlier that a decision on it was pending. "The matter is under consideration, the permission has neither been rejected nor approved so far," a senior police officer had said.
Former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal also spoke on the matter in a post on X.
"The Aam Aadmi Party had scheduled a rally at Jantar Mantar on March 1. This rally had been announced several days in advance. At the very last moment, these people got the police to cancel the rally," Kejriwal said.
He asked if this was the result of Friday's court order that discharged him and others in the Delhi excise policy case.
"Holding a rally, voicing one's opinion, these are constitutional rights of everyone. This kind of authoritarianism is not right. We should be allowed to hold the rally," the AAP leader added.
AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, in a post on X, had said, "Jantar Mantar in Delhi is the designated place for protests where granting permission for the protest is the responsibility of Delhi Police."
"But look at the BJP's panic, Arvind Kejriwal and AAP are not being allowed to hold a rally at Jantar Mantar," he added.
A Delhi court on Friday discharged Kejriwal, former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and 21 others in the case linked to the now-scrapped excise policy, a development that had triggered political controversy and contributed to the collapse of the AAP government in the national capital.
