Arvind Kejriwal's protest 'theatre of the absurd', says Arun Jaitley

New Delhi: BJP leader Arun Jaitley on Tuesday termed as “theatre of the absurd” Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s protest and also hit out at Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde saying by calling the protest off Republic Day has been saved though the Republic has been “weakened”. [caption id=“attachment_1351929” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia at the protest venue. Naresh Sharma/Firstpost[/caption] Attacking the Aam Aadmi Party for the protest which was an “absurdly disproportionate” action to the demand, the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha said the new outfit lost not only its reputation but also its image as a responsible government and the sympathy among its voters. “This was a theatre of the absurd. AAP had threatened to disturb the Republic Day because of an SHO not being suspended. It is an absurdly disproportionate action to the demand… At the end of the day, we saved the Republic Day and we weakened the Republic,” he told PTI. He said at the end of the day, AAP is a “big loser” and “lost its reputation”. “It has lost its image of responsible government. It has lost a large amount of sympathy among its voters and it has lost media support and the social media for the cause of an SHO,” he said. Attacking the Congress government at the Centre for making concessions to AAP for ending the fast, Jaitley said, “The government, even though they made a minor concession and bailed out AAP, realised that they want this irresponsible government to continue as they cannot afford another election in Delhi.” Kejriwal’s unprecedented dharna in the heart of the capital came to an abrupt end tonight after two police officers were sent on leave under a neat compromise with the Centre over his demand for suspension of five officials for alleged dereliction of duty. The over 30-hour protest outside Rail Bhavan in the high-security Raisina Hill area that virtually morphed into a demand for control over Delhi Police and threatened to disrupt the Republic Day celebrations on Sunday ended following an assurance from the Lt Governor Najeeb Jung. PTI