The AAP and the BJP on Monday hit the streets over the issue of oath to aldermen in the MCD House last week, and the ensuing row, with both parties staging demonstrations against each other.
AAP volunteers led by Minister Raaj Kumar Anand and party chief spokesperson and MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj protested near BJP headquarters at ITO. During the protest, the councillors, MLAs and volunteers of the party raised slogans against the LG and the BJP. AAP leader Bharadwaj said that the BJP has been trying to take over the MCD through illegal means despite losing the elections. The majority is clearly with AAP and the people have also categorically stated that the Mayor should be from AAP, he said.
The AAP had on Saturday staged a protest outside LG VK Saxena's house over the appointment of aldermen by him, accusing him of helping BJP gain control over the standing committee and zonal committees of the MCD.
The Delhi BJP, too, staged a protest near Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence on Mondy in Civil Lines over an alleged attack on BJP councillors by their AAP counterparts in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) meeting last Friday. .
As he led the protesters near Kejriwal's house, Delhi BJP working president Virendra Sachdeva said, "What happened in the MCD House on January 6 was extremely shameful. The AAP councillors attacked BJP councillors including women. We are prepared to retaliate to the hooliganism of the AAP." He said the party will not relent until Kejriwal apologises over the "hooliganism" of his councillors.
Police on Monday detained several leaders including Sachdeva, MP Parvesh Verma, state general secretaries Harsh Malhotra and Dinesh Pratap Singh, and state vice president Sunil Yadav, as they tried to cross a police barricade at Chandgi Ram Akhara, en route to Chief Minister's residence. They were later released by the police, the party said. “The incident that took place in the House on January 6 is very shameful in which political decorum was violated.
It is unfortunate for the people of the national capital that they have a 'Tulu Pump' CM who has been exploiting them for the last eight years,” said Sachdeva, while addressing the gathering. Delhi BJP working president also demanded an apology from the CM to the countrymen and women councilors of the saffron party, and warned that till then their struggle will continue.
Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said that AAP MLAs and councilors have insulted the constitution written by Baba Bhimrao Ambedkar at the behest of Arvind Kejriwal. A row erupted between AAP and BJP councillors on Friday in the MCD house, when AAP councillors opposed oath being administered to the 10 aldermen appointed by the LG. The meeting was adjourned without election to the posts of mayor, deputy mayor, and members of the standing committee.
Meanwhile, during the protest at ITO, Saurabh Bhardwaj said, “We will not let the BJP and the LG use illegal tactics and act like goons and try and take over the MCD. We are not the Congress party to get scared of the BJP and surrender. Each of our party workers can give up their lives to fight against the BJP which is making a mockery of our Constitution.” Social Welfare Minister Raaj Kumar Anand said that this is the unconstitutional face of the BJP. “First of all we want this to be highlighted to the residents of Delhi and the people in the country. We also want to point out that if the AAP wanted, it could have also forcefully elected the Mayor from our party on the day the ruckus in the MCD was created by the BJP,” he said.