On a day the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government made frantic efforts to introduce the Jan lokpal Bill, the conduct of Assembly Speaker MS Dhir also came under scanner. The Opposition BJP, AAP’s ally Congress and other legislators criticised his conduct in the House when the Bill was being introduced. The BJP leaders went on to say the Speaker had no knowledge of the rules and regulations and accused him of acting in a partisan manner to benefit the Government.
The Speaker received flak from several legislators who accused him of ‘overruling’ Delhi lieutenant-Governor’s direction of not allowing the Jan lokpal Bill to be tabled in the legislative Assembly proceedings. Strong resentment broke in the Assembly House right at the beginning when Dhir did not read out the letter sent by l-G Najeeb Jung.
Reminding the Speaker to act in accordance with the Constitution, leader of Opposition, Harsh Vardhan said, “You (MS Dhir) being on the chair should respect and work in accordance with the Constitution. By not reading out the letter sent by the l-G, you are demeaning the Constitution.” It was only after the demands of the legislators in the Opposition that Dhir read out the l-G’s letter. He further went on to accuse the Speaker of acting like an AAP member. “It is only because of the Constitution that Arvind Kejriwal has become the Chief Minister. If you (MS Dhir) continue being biased toward the AAP Government then there are enough provisions for this House to remove you from the chair and appoint a new person to preside over the House proceedings,” added Vardhan.
Similarly, Congress was miffed with the Speaker as he allegedly ignored party leader Arvinder Singh lovely’s resolution on voting for the introduction of the Jan lokpal Bill. lovely sternly said that the consent of the House does not mean the consent of only the Speaker.