The Delhi units of both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress on Thursday said they would boycott the silver jubilee function of Delhi Assembly on Saturday. The decision comes close on the heels of BJP veteran LK Advani expressing his inability to attend the event.

The Delhi Assembly is holding the function to mark the 25th anniversary of its first sitting on December 14, 1993.

The party will boycott the function to be held on December 15, Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken said, adding that an all-party “celebration committee” should have been constituted to hold the function. The BJP, which has four MLAs in the Delhi Assembly, will also boycott the function, said Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Vijender Gupta.

Maken, who was the youngest MLA of the Delhi Assembly in 1993 and also the youngest Speaker of the House, alleged that politics had prevailed over institution-building and decency in the past four years in Delhi.

“Sheila Dikshit ji, who was chief minister for 15 out of 25 years as member of the Delhi Assembly, should have been called respectfully by the present chief minister or Speaker at least over the phone, if not personally. The same should have been followed for all former Speakers and chief ministers,” Maken said.

Meanwhile, BJP leader, Gupta said the BJP MLAs in a meeting decided to boycott the function over “disrespect” to democratic values and the Constitution.

“A resolution was passed at the meeting saying that the Kejriwal government, which threw democratic values, Constitution and Delhi Assembly rules to winds during the last four years, has no moral right to celebrate silver jubilee of the legislative body,” he said.

LK Advani has already turned down invitation to be the chief guest at the function, citing personal reasons.

Delhi assembly speaker Ram Niwas Goel denied all the allegations and said that the opposition parties were indulging in petty politics. “We had invited LK Advani to be the chief guest. I was hurt to know he is not coming. We also invited all MLAs and ex-MLAs. But it is unfortunate that the opposition and the other parties are doing politics over celebrating 25 years of the Delhi assembly of which all of them have been a part at some point in time,” Goel said.

First Published: Dec 14, 2018 12:23 IST