Arvind Kejriwal's car was attacked, the windshield was broken
, who was briefly detained by the Gujarat police today, made a public appeal this evening for his supporters from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to stay calm after they fought egregious street battles with BJP members in Delhi and Lucknow.
"For any role that our workers played in this evening's violence, I offer my apology," he added, though he accused the BJP of instigating the violence.
Mr Kejriwal, who is on a four-day tour of Gujarat, saw his car's windshield being smashed as he drove through Kutch this evening; he has attributed what he describes as his harassment to the orders of
Narendra Modi, the BJP's candidate for prime minister. Mr Kejriwal has dedicated his trip to auditing Mr Modi's claims of the uber-development of the state he has governed since 2001.
The violence in Delhi and Lucknow broke out after AAP workers gathered at BJP offices to protest against Mr Kejriwal's detention this afternoon in the western town of Radhanpur, 170 kms from Ahmedabad. (
Blog: On the road in Gujarat with Arvind Kejriwal)
Mr Kejriwal was accused by government officers of violating the model code of conduct, which kicked in today after elections were announced, and makes prior police permission necessary for rallies. Officials later said that they accepted that Mr Kejriwal had not broken any election rules because his convoy consisted largely of media cars and did not amount to a political procession.
In Delhi, stones were hurled and chairs were flung from within the BJP headquarters. AAP members including senior leaders like Ashutosh were seen scaling the walls of the compound. Several people were injured. (
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Mr Kejriwal resigned as Chief Minister of Delhi last month, 49 days after taking office.
AAP has suggested that if Mr Modi decides to run for Parliament from anywhere outside Gujarat, it will field Mr Kejriwal against him.
Opinion polls forecast that under Mr Modi, the BJP will be the largest party but will fall well short of a majority.