Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Insisted on Felicitation on Kotla's Field of Play: Mukul Mudgal

Delhi High Court appointed observer Justice (Retd) Mukul Mudgal on Saturday said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal "insisted" on having the state government felicitation of World Cup-winning cricketers on the field of play at Feroz Shah Kotla, which he could not have allowed as per BCCI directives. (BCCI Denies Delhi Government Permission to Felicitate World Cup Winners at Kotla)

Mudgal, in fact, showed a chain of messages with a lawyer named Rahul Mehra (Delhi government's counsel), who was talking to him on behalf of Kejriwal.

"Rahul was sending me the messages of the Chief Minister as I did not speak to him personally. In one of the messages, it was written that it was insisted that venue of the scheduled programme cannot be changed. I replied stating that DDCA is bound by BCCI's directive which cannot be changed," Mudgal said on Saturday.

"I told Rahul that an alternate arrangement can be made but he sent a whatsApp reply that stated: 'No Sir'."

Mudgal showed the entire chain of conversation to the mediapersons, which also included a message sent by Mehra on Chief Minister's behalf stating: "You are the boss."

"Once BCCI said that it cannot be allowed after the start of play, I had to follow the norms," said Justice Mudgal. In fact, Mehra also demanded that Kejriwal should be allowed to walk up to the stands where school children were sitting and interact with them.

However, the Delhi Police had strong objections as they felt that it could create security issues given that children will invariably try to rush towards the Chief Minister.