The Delhi Assembly on Tuesday initiated privilege proceedings against Leader of the Opposition Vijender Gupta for terming House committees “unconstitutional” and demanding that they be scrapped.
The BJP leader had issued a press release on August 2 calling the various Assembly committees “illegal”.
In the statement, he said he had written to Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal that day asking for the committees to be dismantled.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs demanded an apology from Mr. Gupta, following which a ruckus erupted in the House, leading to Speaker Ram Niwas Goel adjourning the meeting for 15 minutes first and then again for 30 minutes.
‘Irresponsible behaviour’
After the adjournment, AAP MLA Nitin Tyagi raised the issue of Mr. Gupta’s statement, terming his behaviour “irresponsible”.
Referring to Mr. Gupta’s statement that had accused the House panels, comprising AAP MLAs, of putting pressure on officials, AAP MLA from Greater Kailash, Saurabh Bharadwaj, said it appeared to be a “conspiracy”.
He said the Centre had taken control of the Anti-Corruption Branch and then acted against the commissions of inquiry set up by the Delhi government.
As the chairperson of one of the House panels, the Petitions Committee, Mr. Bharadwaj had recently presented a report on the status of desilting of drains.
He added the committees were working to check whether government policies were being translated from paper to ground reality.
AAP MLA from Chandni Chowk, Alka Lamba, added that the BJP appeared to want the panels to compromise on investigations of corruption that involved their leaders.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said as a member of the executive, he was not threatened by the oversight role of the panels.
“The committees can call Ministers also. Why is the Leader of the Opposition worried when I as member of the executive am not? He must be the first member of a legislature in the world who is asking for less power. They are afraid of democracy,” said Mr. Sisodia.
He added that since the House panels had unearthed cases of contractors cheating the government, whether it was the de-silting of drains or the installation of hoardings, it was suspicious that Mr. Gupta was intervening.
Taking cognisance of what the AAP MLAs said, the Speaker referred the matter to the Privileges Committee.
If Mr. Gupta fails to apologise, action would be taken against the BJP leader, the House decided.
Other issues
Meanwhile, Mr. Gupta said the way the AAP government had treated the tragic death of three sewer workers in Lajpat Nagar in the Assembly on Tuesday established that it was not only a “dalit virodhi” government, but also one that believed in “repressing” the Opposition.
Mr. Gupta said the Chandigarh stalking case was on Tuesday listed as the last item for discussion in the revised List of Business.
“But the Speaker suddenly reversed the order and introduced the last subject first in order to divert attention from the adjournment motion on sewer deaths to be introduced by the LoP. This amounts to denial of rights to Dalits as well as the Opposition,” Mr. Gupta complained.
The Leader of the Opposition said that in a “misuse” of his position, the Speaker called the marshals and forcibly threw him out.
“After I was forced out, MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa was also shunted out of the House by the marshals. The third MLA, Jagdish Pradhan, left the House in protest against use of force,” he alleged.