Not allowed to take phone inside for meeting with PM Modi: Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: Opening another front against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has alleged that few Chief Ministers, including him, were not allowed to carry mobile phones to the Inter-State Council meet chaired by the PM in the national capital recently.
“They made few a Chief Ministers, including me, to leave our phones outside. It was very strange. They kept phones of few Chief Ministers outside while few were allowed to take their phones inside. I raised the issue in my speech as well,” Kejriwal said.
The Delhi CM added that he raised the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking him whether they posed a security threat to his security.
He also alleged that that his speech faced “interferences”.
Kejriwal said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who was among those who were barred, objected to the move, and she was not allowed to speak.
He was speaking at the launch of a book ‘Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party’, authored by Pran Kurup, his IIT Kharagpur batchmate, at the Constitution Club. “In fact, Mamataji protested. She said return (the phone) otherwise I will leave. She asked what if there is an emergency in West Bengal, how will people contact her then? Then they allowed her to take her phone inside. But they did not let Mamataji speak. I also had to face a lot of interferences,” Kejriwal said.
Kejriwal wondered why they were invited in the first place if the Centre “does not want to listen to the voice of the opposition”. Others did not protest (for not being allowed to carry their cell phones inside), maybe because they are under the threat of CBI. The Inter-State Council meeting had taken place on Saturday last after a gap of 10 years.