Protest spills to houses of Cong leaders

NEW DELHI: Amidst the groundswell of support for Anna on the city streets, hundreds of boys and girls protested with flowers outside the residences of several senior Congress leaders, including Kapil Sibal, chief minister Sheila Dikshit, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and home minister P Chidambaram. Though they resorted to Gandhigiri, the police detained 350 youths.There were also loud protests outside the Congress headquarters at Akbar Road and houses of party leaders Ajay Maken and Mahabal Mishra. The police have raised security outside the houses of these politicians. The protests followed Anna’s call to supporters to picket homes of politicians opposing the Jan Lokpal Bill.
Early on Monday, 250 Anna supporters staged a demonstration outside chief minister Sheila Dikshit's Motilal Nehru Road residence. They raised slogans against the chief minister and also mentioned the CAG report on the Commonwealth Games. The police swiftly swung into action and detained them.
When asked about the protests, Dikshit said her government has done nothing wrong in the conduct of the Games. Asked whether she shared the views of her son and East Delhi MP Sandip Dikshit that it was a wrong to arrest Hazare, she skirted the query. “That stage is over. Now we will have to find solution to the problem. Serious efforts are on to break the stalemate. The Prime Minister has already spoken about it. The government is working on a formula,” Dikshit said.
Protesters began gathering outside the residences of Congress leaders with flowers and placards in their hands. From outside Sibal’s house, 122 boys and girls were detained and whisked away to Chanakyapuri police station. Around 24 protesters were held at Pranab Mukherjee’s residence and 10 from outside Ajay Maken’s house. They were let off in the evening. “The idea was to sing bhajans outside the politicians’ homes, give them flowers and coax them to listen to our leader. Anna is unwell and the politicians aren’t even bothered,” said Brijesh, a protester.