Major drama unfolded in the Delhi Vidhan Sabha on Friday when a question asked during the question hour turned into a slanging match between leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta and Water Minister Kapil Mishra lasting for more than half.
While Mishra took a dig at Gupta saying that he should have shaved his moustache for failing to put Sheila Dikshit behind bars in two months after getting the fact-finding committee’s report, Gupta retorted that by not canceling the contracts of the companies involved in the scam, the Delhi Jal Board is trying to protect Sheila Dikshit.
Gupta further alleged that the Delhi Government’s reluctance to end the contracts, thereby continuing with the scam that they have themselves uncovered, indicates that the Government may also be trying to protect Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal “who may also be involved in the scam”.
Meanwhile, Mishra said his Government will cancel the contracts within 24 hours of receiving a recommendation from the ACB after the matter is investigated by the agency.
“The Fact-finding committee can only present facts based on analysing the documents. For probing the irregularities, it cannot interrogate former CM Dikshit and Government officials involved in the scam. For this reason we demanded a CBI or an ACB probe and even requested you to get it done when we gave you the report in this very House. If you get the probe done and get us a recommendation from the ACB to cancel the contracts, I assure you that we will do that within 24 hours,” he said.
Speaker Ram Niwas Goel also said when the ACB can conduct raid at the office of Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) then why it can’t summon Delhi Jal Board officials.
Mishra added that while Gupta did not shave his moustache which he was supposed to do if he could not get Dikshit to be put behind bars within two months for her alleged involvement in the scam, his moustache is “shaved in the eyes of the people of Delhi”.
Earlier, when Gupta asked if the Delhi Government has found out any alleged irregularities in the supply of water tankers for the DJB, Mishra said taking a dig at Gupta that he should not be asking him this question.
“I am surprised that you are asking me this question 70 days after you were handed over the report of the fact-finding committee. This means that you did not even bother to open the report. If you had read even the first page, you will not have asked this question,” Mishra retorted.
Admitting that irregularities have been uncovered in the report, Mishra added that the same report had been sent to the Prime Minister, lieutenant-Governor and the CBI so that they could get the matter investigated. “But the fact is that till the time the report was with the Delhi Government, Dikshit had retired from the political life. But as soon as we sent the report to the PM, she has again become politically active,” he said.