Delhi Speaker suspends 21 AAP MLAs till Feb 28 overAssembly

New Delhi, : Delhi Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta on Tuesday suspended 21 of the 22 opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs from the Legislative Assembly for three
days until February 28. AAP legislator Amanatullah Khan was the only one not suspended as he was absent from Tuesday’s session. Earlier, Gupta had initially suspended 12 AAP MLAs, including Leader of Opposition Atishi and former Delhi minister Gopal Rai, for the day after they raised slogans during Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena’s speech on the second day of the assembly session. As soon as Saxena began his address, AAP MLAs raised slogans, disrupting proceedings. Before his speech, they chanted “Jai Bhim” slogans. The MLAs were then suspended from the House. Atishi alleged that the BJP had disrespected BR Ambedkar by removing his portrait from the
chief minister’s office. “The BJP has shown its true colours by removing Babasaheb Ambedkar’s portrait. Does it believe Modi can replace Babasaheb?” she said at a press conference. Atishi alleged that the BJP dispensation had removed Ambedkar’s portraits
from the chief minister’s office in both the Delhi Secretariat and the assembly. The suspended AAP lawmakers later held a protest on the assembly premises with Ambedkar portraits, raising “Babasaheb ka ye apmaan nahi sahega Hindustan (India will not tolerate this insult to Babasaheb)” and “Jai Bhim” slogans. Commenting on the AAP MLAs’ suspension, Delhi minister Ravinder Indraj Singh said, “This is not a protest. These AAP leaders are scared. They are trying to create unrest in the assembly instead of resigning. They are trying to hide something.” Singh’s Cabinet colleague Ashish Sood alleged that AAP was attempting to divert attention from corruption during its term in office. “Whenever AAP tries to create a ruckus, it is to cover up its corruption. The CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) report will expose its wrongdoings.” On Monday, AAP alleged that portraits of Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh were removed from Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta’s office. However, the BJP accused AAP of trying to distract people from the CAG reports which were tabled in the assembly on today.