Atishi, speaker tussle over assembly conduct

According to a session bulletin issued by the Delhi Assembly secretariat on Monday, the five-day Budget Session will begin on March 24, the budget will be presented on March 25 and a general discussion on it will be held on March 26

New Delhi

Atishi with Vijender Gupta in the BJP’s government’s first assembly session, on February 24. (RAJ K RAJ /HT PHOTO)

Leader of Opposition (LoP) Atishi of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Delhi Assembly speaker Vijender Gupta of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) got into a war of words over the recently concluded assembly session. Atishi accused Gupta of partisanship and “undermining democratic norms” in the recently concluded session, and Gupta shot back, saying the LoP was trying to find fault with the speaker’s lawful directions “instead of apologising” for AAP MLAs’ disruptive behaviour.

According to a session bulletin issued by the Delhi Assembly secretariat on Monday, the five-day Budget Session will begin on March 24, the budget will be presented on March 25 and a general discussion on it will be held on March 26.

In a letter to speaker Gupta on Wednesday, Atishi alleged that opposition legislators were unfairly marshalled out during the lieutenant governor’s address (on February 25) for chanting slogans, whereas BJP MLAs faced no action for similar sloganeering.

“During the address of the LG, sloganeering was done by MLAs of the opposition and the ruling party. The opposition raised slogans of ‘Jai Bheem’, while the ruling party raised slogans of ‘Modi, Modi, Modi’. All opposition MLAs were marshalled out of the Assembly, however, no ruling party MLA was marshalled out or asked to leave despite repeated sloganeering by them,” Atishi wrote.

Speaker Gupta, in turn, wrote that the allocation of time to members was done as per parliamentary conventions and was also influenced by AAP MLAs’ absence due to suspension. “I am surprised that instead of apologising for you and your party members’ disruptive behaviour, you are finding fault with my lawful directions,” he said.