Two of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MlAs, who apparently tried to follow their party “biggies” by allegedly refusing to leave the premises of Raj Niwas not before meeting lieutenant Governor (l-G) Anil Baijal, were forcefully removed by police on Tuesday.
AAP MlAs Somnath Bharti and SK Bagga, who were “seeking an appointment” to meet the l-G, were allegedly removed by police from the l-G's Office where they had gone to attend a Delhi Development Authority (DDA) meeting.
Both members of DDA, after the meeting stayed back at l-G office and sought an appointment to meet Baijal, said Bharti.
“After the meeting ended, MlAs Somnath Bharti and SK Bagga, who came to attend the meeting, refused to leave the residential premises of the lt Governor, on the pretext of joining the 'dharna' of the Chief Minister,” said a statement from the Raj Niwas.
The two MlAs were “repeatedly requested” to end their “unauthorised occupation” of the residential premises of the lt Governor, it said.
“However, they refused to leave and continued with their unauthorised occupation for about two hours and left only after considerable persuasion,” it added.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal himself sat on an indefinite “sit-in” at l-G's office since June 11 along with three of his Cabinet colleagues, all of them only to be removed on health grounds one by one. Kejriwal termed the incident bizarre and said that it is constitutional duty of the l-G to meet the elected representatives.
“Two MlAs evicted forcefully using police by the l-GIJ Just becoz they wanted to meet himIJ What is this going onIJ Why is lG refusing to meet MlAs, MPs, ministers, CMIJ Does lG know that he has a constitutional duty to meet themIJ He has no choice but to meet themIJ This is bizarre,” he tweeted.
Bharti alleged that he was “ousted” from l-G's office by a heavy police force. “Ashamed that Honble lG in place of hearing us out for 2 min used heavy police led by ACP Sri Tyagi to oust us from lG House. Possibly the most potent democratic tool namely dialogue has no place in the Modi era,” he tweeted.
However, a senior police officer said Bharti and Bagga did not have an appointment to meet Baijal and were asked to leave.
“We checked with the control room of the l-G's office whether the MlAs had any appointment with the lG but they said that there was no meeting fixed. The MlAs were asked to leave and no police force used to oust them,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Raj Niwas in a statement said the l-G chaired the DDA meeting to consider the public suggestions and comments which were sought on the issue of the proposed amendments in the Master Plan of Delhi (MPD) 2021.