Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs were stopped from entering the Delhi Assembly on Thursday, days after they were suspended for three days for causing a disruption in the House. The legislators alleged that barricades had been placed on the entry road to block their access to the Assembly complex.
Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, Atishi, criticised the move on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), accusing the BJP of escalating authoritarian measures.
“AAP MLAs were suspended from the House for three days for raising slogans of ‘Jai Bhim’. And today, they are not even being allowed to enter the Vidhan Sabha premises. This has never happened in the history of the Delhi Assembly,” she stated.
Outside the Assembly, Atishi confronted the police after being denied entry, demanding to see the official order that prohibited MLAs from accessing the premises.
“Sir, what is the matter? Show me the order. Who gave the order?” she asked.
The police responded that the directive had come from the Speaker. Unconvinced, Atishi pressed further, asking where it was documented that MLAs could not enter and insisted on seeing the official document.
Delhi Minister and BJP leader Parvesh Verma defended the suspension, stating that the MLAs had disrupted House proceedings. “They (AAP MLAs) cannot raise slogans when the LG is addressing the House. If they break the laws like this, it is not appropriate,” he said.
Despite the BJP government’s announcement to table all 14 pending CAG reports during the ongoing Assembly session, no report was presented on Thursday.
However, one of the reports is expected to be tabled on Friday.
Earlier this week, 21 MLAs, including former Delhi Chief Minister Atishi, were suspended from the Assembly following an uproar over a CAG report on the liquor policy introduced by AAP when it was in power. Allegations of financial irregularities in the now-scrapped policy had led to the arrest of several top AAP leaders, including party chief Arvind Kejriwal and former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
The CAG report, tabled in the Delhi Assembly on Thursday by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, highlighted financial lapses during the period from 2017-18 to 2020-21. It found that the former AAP-led government had incurred a total revenue loss of Rs 2,002 crore due to the liquor policy.
The report stated that the government suffered a revenue loss of approximately Rs 890 crore due to its failure to re-tender surrendered liquor licences, while delays in taking action resulted in additional losses of Rs 941 crore due to exemptions granted to zonal licensees.
One of the key findings in the report was a Rs 144 crore waiver granted to liquor licensees for the period between December 28, 2021, and January 27, 2022, citing COVID-19 restrictions.
The report’s findings have intensified the political debate over the liquor policy and its financial impact on the state.
AAP MLAs stated that their protest was against the removal of BR Ambedkar’s image from the Chief Minister’s office and the Delhi Secretariat. They questioned whether the ruling party considered Prime Minister Narendra Modi a greater figure than Ambedkar.
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