Delhi: AAP criticises budget, skips presentation

AAP and Congress criticized Delhi's budget as "hollow," citing governance failures after a deadly fire. AAP staged protests, demanding accountability.

New DelhiThe Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress on Tuesday called the Delhi Budget “hollow”, “triple deception”, and “unaccounted for”.

The party accused the government of lacking basic fire safety equipment, including functional ladders, and blamed them for negligence. (RAJ K RAJ /HT PHOTO)

AAP’s Delhi chief Saurabh Bharadwaj staged a protest outside the Delhi Assembly and alleged that nine members of a family died in Palam fire tragedy due to governance failures despite a ₹1 lakh crore budget. The party accused the government of lacking basic fire safety equipment, including functional ladders, and blamed them for negligence.

“Nine people were burned to death in Palam. If the fire brigade had even one functional ladder, those people could have been saved. The entire country saw that painful incident and shed tears. But the shameless government led by Rekha Gupta is sitting in the House and abusing that victim family,” Atishi said.

The AAP also questioned the transparency of the budget tabled in the Assembly, alleging it was “hollow” and unaccounted for, with funds misused amid job cuts, halted welfare schemes, and rising project costs.

Further, Bharadwaj said that despite announcing a similar ₹1 lakh crore outlay last year, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Delhi government has yet to account for how the funds were spent.

Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Devender Yadav described it as a “triple bluff in two budgets of a triple engine government”.

“This budget is a betrayal of the past, the present and the future of Delhi. Chief minister Rekha Gupta has given a big jolt by talking at length, but delivering little,” Yadav said.

Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva said that record budget of ₹1.03 lakh crore is the largest in Delhi’s history, with the government’s own revenue covering about 74% of the expenditure, while the remaining 26% has clearly defined allocations, making it a self-reliant budget. He added that the first year of Rekha Gupta government’s service has been remarkable and will take Delhi to a new horizon.

Meanwhile, in her letter to Speaker Gupta, Atishi raised concerns over the suspension of four AAP MLAs and alleged “double standards” in the functioning of the House. AAP MLAs Sanjiv Jha, Jarnail Singh, Som Dutt and Kuldeep Kumar were suspended in the previous sitting of the Assembly in January this year for allegedly disrupting the address by the then lieutenant governor VK Saxena.

AAP legislators boycotted the budget session on Monday and Tuesday, demanding that the Speaker revoke the suspension of the four MLAs. Senior party leaders claimed that it was the first time in the history of Assembly that Opposition members did not attend the budget session.

Responding to the concerns, Speaker Vijender Gupta said that the suspension has continued in the current session as the previous sitting of the House was not discontinued.

The Speaker pointed that the decision to suspend the members was not arbitrary but a necessary consequence of their “continued agitation, misbehaviour, and the disturbance caused” during the LG’s address.

In his letter to the Leader of Opposition, the Speaker expressed disappointment over the continued defence of “errant members” and the “unparliamentary conduct” displayed by the Opposition.

He noted that despite his specific advice during a meeting with Opposition members on March 21 to attend the sittings, AAP MLAs chose to abstain from the proceedings. “It does not behove the Leader of Opposition to drag the Chair and the House to cover up the failures and objectionable behaviour of party members,” he said.