Cops say no permission to AAP’s protest march to PM’s residence; five metro stations shut

The Delhi Metro Rail Corp first closed entry and exit at Lok Kalyan Marg station from 12 noon. The Central Secretariat, Udyog Bhawan, Patel Chowk and Janpath stations were also shut from 2 pm.

Hours before the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) protest march to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence, the Delhi Police said no permission was sought for it, even as party leaders alleged that supporters were being prevented from taking part in the rally.

AAP leader Sanjay Singh during a protest march from Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence to the office of the Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal in New Delhi.(Sanchit Khanna/HT File Photo)

Meanwhile, Delhi Metro will keep five stations in the heart of Delhi shut on Sunday.

As advised by police, the Delhi Metro Rail Corp first closed entry and exit at Lok Kalyan Marg station from 12 noon. The Central Secretariat, Udyog Bhawan, Patel Chowk and Janpath stations were also shut from 2 pm.

The interchange service will, however, be available at the Central Secretariat station.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal along with his cabinet colleagues has been camping at Lt Governor Anil Baijal’s house for almost a week to demand that Baijal issue a directive to civil servants who the AAP leader says are on de facto strike.

Not getting any response from the Lt Governor, the AAP announced a march to Modi’s residence at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg starting from Mandi House at 4 pm on Sunday.

Delhi Traffic Police on Twitter said traffic movement was closed from Patel Chowk to Jantar Mantar due to the demonstration.

The AAP-led government in Delhi has had run-ins with the L-Gs office. On Friday, Kejriwal said he had received no response to the letter he had written to PM Modi seeking his intervention for ending the IAS officers’ “strike”. The Delhi CM has also accused Baijal of doing “nothing” to end the impasse.

The IAS Officers’ Association has denied that they were on strike and maintained they were continuing written communication with Delhi ministers. The Bharatiya Janata Party, too, has refuted charges of meddling in the Delhi government’s functioning and instead, four BJP leaders have launched a counter protest at the chief minister’s office in Delhi Secretariat.

Earlier on the sidelines of Niti Aayog council meet on Saturday, chief ministers of four states -- Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), HD Kumaraswamy (Karnataka), Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh) and Pinarayi Vijayan (Kerala) -- also urged Prime Minister Modi to resolve the Delhi impasse.