The Hindu : New Delhi News : BJP stalls Assembly proceedings

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 17, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

BJP stalls Assembly proceedings

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, DEC. 16. The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party today stalled the proceedings of the Delhi Assembly and disrupted Question Hour demanding that the Sheila Dikshit Government immediately withdraw the massive water tariff increase imposed on various categories of consumers in the Capital from December 1. All 20 BJP legislators were later expelled by the Speaker, Chaudhary Prem Singh, after repeated attempts to clam them down failed.

Interestingly, while the entire BJP legislature group stood up in protest against the Delhi Government's decision to hike the water charges raging from 200 to 500 per cent and shouted slogans against the Government and the Chief Minister, the Congress MLAs sat quietly in their seats virtually refusing to defend the Government's decision.

In her reply, the Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, defended the hike and said it was necessary to provide efficient service to consumers. She said the water tariff was still the lowest in the country and continuing with the old structure would have made running of the Delhi Jal Board unfeasible. She charged the BJP with trying to make a political issue out of nothing and said such dramatics will not cut any ice with the people of Delhi.

As soon as the first day proceedings of the winter session began with paying of tributes to the former member of the House, Gyan Chand, renowned vocalist and Bharat Ratna awardee, M.S. Subbulakhsmi, and the Mukerian train accident victims, the BJP members led by the Leader of the Opposition, Jagdish Mukhi, and Harsh Vardhan were on their feet demanding that their notice for adjournment motion on the issue of water tariff hike be taken up immediately after suspending the entire business for the day. The Speaker asked Mr. Mukhi to resume his chair, as he was about to give his ruling on the notice given by Mr. Mukhi. However, the BJP members were on their feet stating that they had adequate strength to move the adjournment motion and therefore keeping mind the importance of the issue, it should be taken up immediately. At this, Mr. Prem Singh informed that a short duration discussion had been listed on the same issue for today and therefore the BJP members could raise their points during that discussion.

However, this did not satisfy the BJP members who demanded that their motion should be taken up immediately. Unable to restore order in the House, the Speaker adjourned the House for 20 minutes. Soon after the House proceedings resumed, the BJP members were once again on their feet. Some of the members led by former Minister, Harsharan Singh Balli, Karan Singh Tanwar, Jai Bhagwan Aggarwal, Puran Chand Yogi and Sushil Chaudhary entered the well of the House and stood up on the podium of the Secretary Vidhan Sabha to argue with the Speaker. At this moment, the Urban Development Minister, A.K. Walia, prompted by the Chief Minister and Education Minister, Arvinder Singh Lovely, moved a resolution for suspension of these members from the House. The Speaker immediately summoned the House marshals and five BJP members were physically removed.

Soon after the removal of their colleagues, another bunch of BJP members including Mr. Mukhi, Kulwant Rana, Ramesh Bidhuri, Harsh Vardhan, Subhash Sachdeva, Sahib Singh Chauhan and Moti Lal Sodhi reached the well of the House shouting slogans against the Chief Minister and the Congress Government. The Speaker too expelled them from the House for the entire day. Later, two other BJP members, Vijay Jolly and Mohan Singh Bisht, were also named and expelled for the day.

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