Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) legislators on Friday staged a walk out from the Delhi Assembly after their request of seeking reply on the Jan lokpal Bill was turned down by the Speaker.
The BJP MlAs alleged that a file related to Jan lokpal Bill has been withheld with the Delhi Government for the past nine months. However, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, accused the Centre of sitting on the file for months and raised the question on the power of the Assembly to pass it.
Speaking in the Assembly, Sisodia said that the file was sent to the Centre through lieutenant Governor 's office but after sitting on the Bill for around 21 months, the Centre questioned whether the Bill comes under the legislative competence of the assembly or not. “The Centre replied on this issue saying that the bill has been reserved for the consent of the President and questioned the authority of the State assembly to pass the bill,” he said.
Sisodia also said that the assembly had passed the Jan lokpal Bill on December 4, 2015, and sent it to the Centre through the lt Governor for approval but the Centre raised question on the rights and power of the assembly. He said that if Delhi was a full state, the Jan lokpal bill would have been enforced much before.
The Deputy Chief Minister also said that they (opposition) keep misleading people on every issue including work done to improve education system and even on enforcing lokpal.
As the assembly proceedings began, leader of Opposition (loP) Vijender Gupta, Manjinder Singh Sirsa and Jagdish Pradhan demanded a reply from the government on the Bill. After walking out from the assembly, they sat on a 'dharna' outside Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's office in the assembly premises.
Gupta also said that the Jan lok Pal Bill is pending since September 14, 2017 but no action has been taken during the last nine months. “The Government which came on the wave of Jan lokpal Bil is now shying away from making efforts to enforce the Bill. It is breach of public trust,” he said.
The opposition leaders have also written to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, demanding that files related to the Bill be tabled in the assembly without any delay. Gupta also said that Sisodia had misled the House on Wednesday, saying that the Jan lokpal Bill is pending with the Centre.
“The government is running away from replying on the status of the Bill. The CM and deputy chief minister should apologies to the House over the issue,” he added.
Sirsa said the opposition will fight for the Jan lokpal Bill and ensure that it is implemented in the national capital. On Thursday, Gupta also gave a memorandum to the assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel, informing that the Delhi government was “misleading” the assembly by leveling “false” allegations against the BJP-led Centre during the discussion on full statehood to the city.