BJP MLAs expelled from Delhi Assembly
New Delhi: BJP MLAs were expelled from Delhi Assembly for three days from today after ruckus over their demand for a House Committee to probe alleged corruption in Commonwealth Games spending forced repeated adjournments.
The House proceedings began on a stormy note with opposition leader V K Malhotra leading the attack on the government, and 10 minutes into the session the House was adjourned amidst sloganeering by the opposition benches.
The scene was no different as the proceedings resumed, with Malhotra charging that there was a "constitutional breakdown" in the state.
As Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit stood up to respond to the charge, the BJP MLAs started raising slogans against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, forcing a second adjournment.
With opposition MLAs sticking to their demand for House committee, the ruckus continued even when the House met again.
As repeated attempts to pacify them did not fructify and MLAs trooped to the Well of the House, Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely proposed a resolution seeking that they be expelled for three sittings.
The resolution was accepted by a voice vote and Speaker Yoganand Shastri announced that the BJP MLAs, including opposition leader V K Malhotra, stand expelled for three days.
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said there was no constitutional breakdown in the state as charged by Malhotra, and again accused Lieutenant Governor Tajendra Khanna of interfering in the government's functioning.
"I want to make it very clear that there has been no constitutional breakdown... But the legitimate powers of an elected government have been eroded and vetoed, made possible through a 2002 order by the then NDA government," she said. Dikshit is unhappy over the L-G's rejection of Delhi Cabinet's decision on raising circle rates.
She said the impasse in the House was costing the government over Rs 3 crore in loss of revenue every day.
"Who will compensate for this loss," she asked.
The Speaker also informed the House that 35 members of the BJP were arrested yesterday for law and order reasons during their protest against alleged corruption in Commonwealth Games, but were released within half an hour.
Congress MLA Mukesh Sharma strongly criticised the behaviour of the opposition benches, including of Malhotra saying they did not even bother to discuss the issue before raising the demand for a House panel.
"They did not attend the discussion on the issue on November 23, and even today despite the fact that the three resolutions listed in the agenda were from their own members, they did not bother to allow them to be brought," he said.
Post new comment