It appears that it is Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who has dug his heels in to protect Somnath Bharti from calls for the law minister's resignation.
Somnath Bharti. Image courtesy Facebook
Bharti, who is facing allegations of sexism and racism after his midnight raid in Khirki Extension, Delhi, is now also facing a police investigation.
According to reports, while many in the Aam Aadmi Party had been of the opinion that the episode could tarnish the reputation of the party and that he should therefore step down, Kejriwal took the opposite view.
"... Kejriwal got everyone to toe his line," said a report in The Telegraph. It added that some party leaders privately wanted Bharti to step down.
Party ideologue Yogendra Yadav was earlier quoted as saying the party had "reprimanded" Bharti for using uncivilised language against the party's opponents.
Bharti had criticised BJP leader Arun Jaitley and senior lawyer Harish Salve, stating people should spit on them for backing foreigners involved in the flesh trade.
A Times of India report said Bharti had been "summoned" by AAP leaders after his comments about Jaitley and Salve.
The Delhi BJP has organised a series of sit-ins across Delhi seeking Bharti's resignation.
One of the Ugandan woman who has approached authorities seeking an FIR against Bharti has said the mob led by the minister barged into her house and held her hands and forced her and her sisters out of the house.
A Times of India report on Bharti says his friends and former colleagues have reacted with shock at him repeatedly courting controversy.
A former mathematics teacher coaching IIT aspirants, the lawyer is also a former president of the IIT Delhi Alumni Association. "Fierce ambition, combativeness, disregard for long established rules and aggression are some of the "qualities" Bharti displays, people known to him say," according to the report.
Citing his friends and acquaintances, the profile paints a picture of a man who loved the limelight, was ambitious, always aggressive. One former colleague remembers him as "unwilling to be a team player". Bharti also apparently had some "legal entanglements with former employers" that led him to be study law.
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