A BJP delegation led by Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Delhi Assembly, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri met Lieutenant-Governor (L-G) Vinai Kumar Saxena on Friday seeking legal action at their expulsion from the Assembly. They termed the expulsion as unconstitutional and alleged that the ruling AAP Government crossed all limits and destroyed the sanctity of the House.
After the meeting with the L-G, the LoP said the Kejriwal Government was acting like a dictatorship and not allowing the Opposition to express its views in the House. “The way BJP MLAs were expelled from the House without any reason, was unconstitutional. It seems that the ruling party had decided to marshal out BJP MLAs,” Bidhuri said.
“It all began when Deputy Speaker Rakhi Birla said that BJP MLA Ajay Mahawar made a video recording and was live streaming the proceedings of the House from his phone. This led to a ruckus in the House and it was adjourned for some time,” Bidhuri said. He alleged that Mahawar had not recorded anything of the proceeding of the House.
Bidhuri further said that notices for discussion of four issues were given for Special Mention under Rule-280 by the BJP and were accepted by the Assembly Secretariat. These subjects were also included in the agenda of the Legislative Assembly. These notices were given by Omprakash Sharma, Jitendra Mahajan, Ajay Mahawar and Abhay Verma.
“Four of our MLAs wanted to speak on their subjects but were not allowed. Mohan Singh Bisht had also requested a short-term discussion under Rule-55, which was about the liquor scam. When he was not allowed to speak, the BJP MLAs said that if this notice has been given and it has been accepted for discussion, then why is the ruling party running away from the debate?,” Bidhuri questioned.
“Following which the MLAs of the ruling party came to the Well and started misbehaving with the BJP MLAs,” he said, adding that this led to the adjournment of the House proceeding for 10 minutes.
“When the proceedings resumed, the Deputy Speaker did not listen to the Opposition and expelled the entire Opposition from the House, saying that Mahawar was live streaming the proceedings of the House from his phone. Surprisingly, no reason was given for the expulsion of the rest of the members,” he alleged.