The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday termed the refusal of assent to a Bill to shield 21 of its MlAs from office of profit rule as “purely political”, alleging BJP playing a ploy to trouble the Delhi Government as Prime Minister Narendra Modi was “scared” of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
In a Press conference at its party headquarters, the AAP said the President’s decision was “based on the Centre’s recommendation” and was not on technical grounds “as being projected” as BJP and Congress themselves had appointed their lawmakers as Parliamentary Secretaries in Delhi and other States.
The Delhi Government released an order, dated May 7, 1997, through which the then BJP Government under Sahib Singh had appointed Nand Kishore Garg as Parliamentary Secretary, AAP said and accused the ruling party at the Centre of “doublespeak”.
“The issue is purely political. The President has withheld one Bill while the Centre is sitting on more than dozen other pro-people Bills such as the Delhi School Education Bill, one on CrPC amendment, the Janlokpal Bill, another on upgrading Netaji Subhash Institute of Technology to a university,” AAP’s Delhi Convenor Dilip Pandey said.
Pandey claimed that earlier the Supreme Court orders “make it clear” that a post will be considered office of profit only if monetary gains are involved and that AAP’s parliamentary secretaries never drew salaries or allowances.
Quoting certain media reports, the party also sought to return fire at BJP by alleging that three hospitals under the municipal corporations of Delhi, namely Kasturba Gandhi Hospital, Hindu Rao Hospital and Rajen Babu TB Hospital, awarded work to a private company worth lakhs of rupees without opening any tender since 2009.
Accusing the BJP of corruption on MCD hospitals, Pandey said BJP only talks about garbage. “The BJP’s entire politics revolves around garbage. The BJP keeps on worrying about garbage. Everything in MCD is about garbage when it comes to the BJP. It will not be wrong to call the BJP’s entire politics: a politics of garbage,” Pandey said while referring to the issue of hospitals.