Sisodia ‘lied’, claims BJP; Sirsa, Gupta marshalled out
NEW DELHI: Day two of the special Assembly session in Delhi witnessed high drama on Thursday after Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta and BJP MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa were marshalled out for demanding an apology from deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia for ‘lying and misleading’ the House.
The opposition, led by Gupta, on Thursday complained to Assembly speaker Ram Niwas Goel that Sisodia had ‘lied’ to the House about the status of the Jan Lokpal Bill on the first day of the session.
The deputy chief minister, on Wednesday, had said that the file of the Jan Lokpal Bill ‘was with the Centre’ because of which the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has not been able to implement it.
On Thursday, leader of opposition Vijender Gupta countered Sisodia’s claim by saying that the Jan Lokpal Bill file was with the Delhi government’s administrative reforms department since September last year. “During the last nine months, the government could not move the file. Now, it is blaming the Centre for the delay,” Gupta said after the speaker adjourned the house for 15 minutes as AAP and BJP legislators sparred on the issue.
Criticising Sisodia for “casting aspersions” on the central government, Gupta demanded that the file be placed in the House to establish the truth. Taking note of the memorandum submitted by the Opposition to him, speaker Goel said he had referred the letter to Sisodia and asked him to furnish a reply.
Later, minister of administrative reforms, Kailash Gahlot, told reporters that the bill is not pend- ing with him. Sisoda also responded to the issue and said, “The question about where the file is not important. If Delhi had full statehood, then the need to send the file to the Centre would not have arisen at the first place.”
In December 2015, Delhi Assembly had passed the Janlokpal Bill which provides for an ombudsman with powers to act against any government functionary. Later, the Centre had sent back the Bill seeking clarification from the AAP government