AAP and BJP turn Delhi Assembly into protest site, hold overnight dharna

AAP and BJP legislators held overnight protests on the Delhi Assembly premises on Monday, amid an ongoing war of words between the two parties on allegations of corruption.

Hours after the Aam Aadmi Party announced its night-long sit-in against the Lieutenant Governor, BJP MLAs also started an overnight dharna on the Assembly premises demanding the sacking of ministers Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain over alleged corruption.

AAP MLAs camped overnight at the Vidhan Sabha premises to press for a probe against Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena for allegedly pressuring two of his employees to exchange demonetised currency notes worth Rs 1,400 crore during his term as the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) chairman in 2016.

The development came days after Saxena recommended a CBI probe into alleged corruption in the implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 and the AAP's accusations that he was "interfering" in the city government's work.

Holding placards, the AAP MLAs squatted near the Mahatma Gandhi statue, while BJP MLAs started their sit-in near the statues of Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru and Sukhdev inside the assembly premises.

In a statement by the BJP, Leader of Opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said the party MLAs have been forced to sit on the dharna since they were not heard in the assembly.

All eight MLAs of the BJP were not part of the proceedings of the Delhi Assembly's special session on Monday and Friday as they were marshalled out of the House.

The BJP said it will approach President Droupadi Murmu to raise the issue of the Assembly being used by the AAP government "to abuse the Centre".

A notice of discussion was given by Vijender Gupta on the classroom scam, Abhay Verma on the liquor scam, Mohan Singh Bisht on the crisis of drinking water and Ajay Mahawar on the removal of Sisodia and Jain from the cabinet, the party said.

Deputy speaker Rakhi Birla rejected their demand for calling attention motion.

Bidhuri said that the Kejriwal government is mired in allegations of corruption and if it is clean, why is it running away from discussion on these issues in the assembly.

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