The Hindu : New Delhi News : Budget session begins on stormy note

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 02, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Budget session begins on stormy note

Staff Reporter

BJP disrupts Lieutenant-Governor's address, demands resignation of Sheila for failure on all fronts

NEW DELHI: The budget session of the Delhi Assembly began on a stormy note on Wednesday with the opposition BJP creating a ruckus by disrupting the Lieutenant-Governor's address and storming into the well of the House demanding resignation of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit for her Government's failure to perform on various fronts including its inability to prevent demolition of illegal structures across the Capital.

As soon as Lieutenant-Governor B. L. Joshi began his address, the BJP MLAs including Leader of the Opposition Jagdish Mukhi, Harsh Vardhan and Harsharan Singh Balli were on their feet shouting slogans against the Chief Minister and the Congress Government. The MLAs were wearing posters around their necks that carried Ms. Dikshit's photograph and a hammer to depict the ongoing demolition drive. They were also holding placards demanding an end to the demolitions. However, Mr. Joshi was undeterred by the slogan-shouting and continued with his speech despite the fact that nothing was audible in the din. Throughout the 40-minute address of Mr. Joshi, the BJP MLAs kept shouting slogans against the ongoing demolitions and even demanding dismissal of the Congress Government.

Interestingly, while the Chief Minister sat quietly in her seat busy reading some file during the speech, the Congress MLAs were busy talking among themselves. The situation turned a bit ugly when Mr. Mukhi and Dr. Vardhan wanted to speak but found that their mikes were switched off for some strange reason. At this, BJP Chief Whip Sahib Singh Chauhan threatened to break the mikes if they were not turned on. Taking the cue, BJP MLA Ramesh Bihduri snatched the mike of the Assembly Secretary and uprooted it.

In another incident, some BJP supporters managed to break the security cordon and enter the Assembly premises by scaling the iron grills. The BJP supporters were holding a protest demonstration some distance away and a large posse of police had been deputed to keep them at bay.

However, some of the supporters managed to breach the security cordon and enter the Assembly premises. But they were whisked away by security personnel. This also forced Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit to change her route and she made her exit from the entry side.

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