NEW DELHI, 23 JAN

Former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday alleged that the police allowed the opposition candidate's men to attack his car on the orders of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

There was no immediate reaction from the BJP on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener's allegation.

Delhi police denied the claim stating that a team of police personnel were accompanying him at the public meeting.

"No attack was attempted on Kejriwal in Hari Nagar. Our team was present with him during the public meeting. The police will investigate the matter because he (Kejriwal) has made a social media post," an officer said on condition of anonymity.

The former Delhi chief minister was addressing a public meeting seeking votes for AAP candidates from Hari Nagar, Rajouri Garden and Madipur in West Delhi.

In a social media post on X after addressing the public in Hari Nagar, Kejriwal said, "Today in Hari Nagar, the police allowed the opposition candidate's men to enter my public meeting and then attacked my car. All this is happening on Amit Shah's orders.

"Amit Shah has made the Delhi Police a personal army of the BJP," Kejriwal claimed.

He further said, "Big questions are being raised on the Election Commission that the national president of a national party and its leaders are being constantly attacked and the Election Commission is unable to take any effective action."

The allegation comes on a day Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said police personnel from his state deployed in the security of Kejriwal have been withdrawn.

"Following the directions of the Delhi Police and the Election Commission today, we withdrew the component of the Punjab Police in the security of Kejriwal ji," said the Punjab Police chief.

AAP and BJP leaders have sparred over similar allegations of attack on car during campaigning for upcoming Delhi Assembly polls levelled by Kejriwal on a couple of occasions in the recent past.

Kejriwal enjoys Z-plus security from the Delhi Police under which he gets around 60 personnel, including personal security officers, two escorts, watcher, armed guards and frisking staff.