india

Updated: Mar 03, 2020 12:29 IST

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as a courtesy call after his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won Assembly elections in the national capital. This was the first meeting between the leaders after AAP trounced BJP in the elections.

“I had sought time from PM. We discussed what has happened in the last few days in Delhi. A lot of rumours were spread and Delhi Police personnel played a good role to stem these rumours,” Kejriwal said after meeting the Prime Minister.

But he also said that if the police were more efficient “like they were while stoping the rumours”, many lives could have been saved.

“I appealed to the PM and he also agreed that no such things should recur in future. I said action should be taken against whoever is responsible for the riots, however powerful or from whichever party,” said Kejriwal.

Last week, Delhi saw its worst riots in over three decades in which 46 people have been killed and more than 200 injured. Protesters for and against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA clashed on the streets and torched vehicles and houses in some localities like Jafrabad, Maujpur and Yamuna Vihar.

After days of mayhem and rioting, an AAP councillor was blamed by the local of inciting the mob and leading them during violence. He was also accused by the family of an Intelligence Bureau (IB) official of murder. Twenty-six-year-old Ankit Sharma was killed during the arson and body dumped in a drain.

The AAP councillor Tahir Hussain, however, denied all the allegations against him and said in a video that he had to leave the Chand Bagh area due to violence. But the party suspended him after the FIR was registered and the police have declared him absconding.

The two leaders also discussed the city’s preparedness for coronavirus, which has spread to nearly 60 countries and killed more than 85,000 people. The city reported its first case of coronavirus on Monday after a person who had visited Italy tested positive for Covid-19.