Sisodia slams BJP for playing ‘dirty politics’

NEW DELHI : Senior Aam Aadmi Party leader and deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Monday questioned the “unconstitutional” and “illegal” disqualification of 20 AAP legislators and accused the BJP government of indulging in “dirty politics” in an open letter to the people of Delhi. “I am unhappy today, but not disappointed. I have faith in the people of Delhi and country,” Sisodia wrote in the letter shared on social media.

NEW DELHI: Delhi deputy chief minister and senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia on Monday questioned the “unconstitutional” and “illegal” disqualification of the party’s 20 legislators, accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of indulging in “dirty politics” in an open letter to the citizens of the national capital.

“I am unhappy today, but not disappointed. I have faith in the people of Delhi and country,” Sisodia wrote in the two-page letter shared on social media.

President Ram Nath Kovind approved the Election Commission’s recommendation to disqualify the party’s 20 Delhi MLAs for violating the law by holding an office of profit.

The MLAs, including Delhi transport minister Kailash Gahlot, were parliamentary secretaries in the government, a post that the poll panel said can be considered an office of profit.

Sisodia said the posts were created to help with the governance and did not have any benefits attached to them.

“When there were no benefits, how is it an office of profit?” he asked, while pointing out that the MLAs were not given time to explain themselves after the hearing on June 23 last year.

Listing the work that the AAP government has done in the last three years, Sisodia alleged that the MLAs were disqualified to stall the developmental work in Delhi in the remaining two years of the Kejriwal government.

“By pushing Delhi into elections means the model code of conduct coming into place. Our government has a lot to do. But elections would mean we cannot do much. Besides it also means huge expenses,” he said.

Sisodia’s letter comes on a day six AAP legislators withdrew from the Delhi high court their plea seeking a stay on the Election Commission’s recommendation to the President to disqualify the 20 legislators.

Justice Rekha Palli said the plea had become infructuous as the President has already issued a circular to disqualify all 20 MLAs.

The court’s decision came after it was informed by the EC that it had already sent its opinion to the President on January 19, before the MLAs had moved the court.

The court said: “What remains with the writ now, the final order has been passed by the President. The plea is dismissed as withdrawn.”