Delhi assembly meetings were adjourned for an hour on Aug 30, 2022 (Tuesday). The adjournment happened amidst slogan shouting during dharnas and catfights between AAP and BJP MLAs.
The AAP MLAs chanted slogans demanding an independent probe into a six-year-old case against Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena whereas, the BJP leaders demanded the sacking of ministers Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain over alleged corruption charges.
BJP MLAs didn’t restrict themselves from putting a head-to-head fight with AAP. Slogans were against the Arvind Kejriwal (AAP supremo) led Delhi government. The slogans targeted them for not allowing a discussion on various issues in the House.
The house met at 11:00 am wherein the legislators of both the AAP and BJP gathered to protest and put forward their respective issues. The protests forced Deputy Speaker Rakhi Birla to suspend the proceedings till noon.
Regardless of multiple adjournments during Tuesday’s session (August 30, 2022), the session resumed at 2:00 pm.
While addressing the assembly. Sisodia called BJP as the “Bachcha Chor Party”. He apparently referred to the arrest of a BJP corporator who has been alleged in the Child Kidnapping Case. Following this address, BJP legislators protested which prompted Birla to marshall them, except for the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri.
Overnight Dharnas: where does it end?
The insatiable desire for power and the slugfest between the two parties continues amidst the allegations of corruption and unheard assembly meetings. Hours after the announcement by AAP, regarding the staged overnight dharnas against Delhi’s Lieutenant, VK Saxena, BJP also decided to follow the lead.
Following those steps, BJP, too, declared that they’ll resort to a night-long sit dharna on the Assembly premises demanding the sacking of ministers Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain over alleged corruption.
Nevertheless, having a hold over the placards AAP squatted near the Mahatma Gandhi statue, while BJP MLAs started their sit-in near the statues of Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru and Sukhdev inside the assembly premises.
AAP accused Saxena of pressuring two of his subordinates to acquire demonetised currency notes. The amount was worth Rs 1,400 crore which was traded during his term as Khadi and Village Commission chairman in 2016.
The development came days after Saxena recommended a CBI probe into alleged corruption in implementing the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22. AAP, however, denounced him for interfering in the city government’s work.
The session which was held on Tuesday was expected to be an integral and stony one. The session is all set to take place amid the outcry by the ruling party MLAs against Saxena.
The proceedings held on Friday and Monday excluded eight MLAs of the BJP. The eight MLAs were marshalled out of the House from the Delhi Assembly’s special session for the third day amid the ongoing slogan chantings leading to dharnas and protests.
BJP MLAs announced that they will be approaching the President of the country, Droupadi Murmu over the persistent issues as Kejriwal’s government has been misusing the assembly “to abuse the centre.“ and how AAP has been throttling democracy in Delhi.
In a statement by Ramvir Singh Bidhuri the BJP, Leader of the Opposition said the party MLAs were not heard in the assembly. Resulting in them being forced to sit on the dharna.
A notice of discussion was given by Vijender Gupta on the classroom scam, Abhay Verma on the liquor scam, Mohan Singh Bisht on the crisis of drinking water and Ajay Mahawar on the removal of Sisodia and Jain from the cabinet, the party said.
According to Bidhuri’s statement, AAP has been drained out with allegations related to corruption. Only if they were forthright and candid AAP wouldn’t be running from the discussions about these issues in the assembly.
“Obviously, it has no answer to these allegations. There is no discussion on the matters of Delhi in the assembly, no question hour, no short-term discussion is held under Rule 55, nor the issues of its own area can be raised under Rule 280.”
He also said that Kejriwal has been using Delhi Assembly to abuse the central government and the issues are nowhere related to Delhi. Crores of Rupees have been spent on the assembly sessions which came from the taxes. AAP, the ruling party, has been using people’s money for politics.
Ramesh Bidhuri had a meeting with the eight MLAs who protested overnight
The Delhi Assembly’s Secretariat had issued an order banning the entry of MPs and political party leaders in view of the tense situation prevailing due to the overnight protests by both the parties
