The second day of the two-day Special Session of the Delhi Assembly kicked off on an unruly note on Friday as leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta perched atop a desk after being denied a calling attention motion on matter by Speaker Ram Niwas Goel. Gupta demanded fact-finding report of the Delhi Jal Board that mentions an alleged water tanker scam during Sheila Dikshit’s tenure.
In his reply, the Chief Minister asked Gupta to get his party to give the control of the anti-corruption branch to the Delhi Government so that a fair probe into the water tanker scam could be conducted.
“I will give you the report of the Delhi Jal Board fact-finding committee tomorrow itself. You also give me facts about your wife’s role in the pension scam,” Kejriwal responded.
He further said the alleged scam happened during the Sheila Dikshit Government and he would have got it investigated if he had the ACB. “When Kapil Mishra wrote to me about the said scam, I thought how can we investigate it when we have no ACBIJ ... We have the strongest resolve against corruption, so much so that even Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scared of it. When we formed the Government, we arrested many corrupt officials.
So PM Modi sent paramilitary forces to take over the ACB: That ACB which was under Delhi Government for the last 40 years,” Kejriwal said.
“That is PM Modi’s style of functioning. He does not believe in the Constitution,” he said.
Kejriwal also said if the ACB was under the control of the Delhi Government, the wife of Gupta would have been behind bars for recommending an ineligible person for receiving pension. “If the ACB was under our control, 95 per cent of BJP counsellors would also be behind bar along with half the former MlAs of the BJP. That is the extent of corruption among the BJP leaders,” he said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia dared the BJP to write to lt Governor Najeeb Jung demanding the matter to be investigated.
Claiming that the Government has failed to give any “satisfactory answer” over the issue, the Opposition leaders Vijender Gupta and Jagdish Pradhan staged a walkout. The third BJP MlA OP Sharma has been disqualified from attending two Assembly Sessions.
Meanwhile, Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel said the table-climbing act of Gupta is “unprecedented” and “shameful”. “By doing so, he has not only disrespected the House, but has also insulted the democratic procedure,” he said.