Delhi Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta on Wednesday defended his decision of keeping the suspended members out of the House as he hit out at Leader of Opposition Atishi for making “baseless” allegations.
In a reply to Atishi regarding her memorandum, Gupta reiterated that he had repeatedly clarified the decision to keep out the members who had been suspended by the House was strictly as per Rule 277 read with the definition of precincts.
He further mentioned that the definition explains in detail the area covered under precincts and includes ‘approaches’.
Gupta expressed he was surprised that instead of an apology on behalf of her party members’ disruptive behaviour, she was rather finding fault with his lawful directions.
He mentioned to the LOP regarding floor time, that as per rules and parliamentary conventions, it is allotted as per party’s strength, and added that she must keep in mind that the time would also be determined depending on the members present in the House.
“The opposition members were not present for three days owing to their suspension,” Gupta added.
He further said that AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan, who was present in the house during that time,was allowed to participate in the debate, but he rather opted to walk out thereafter, and did not participate in further discussions.
He told Atishi that she may also note that the floor time used by the Chief Minister, or any Minister is not included while calculating the floor time as they are allowed to intervene at any point as per rules.
Clarifying about his interventions, the speaker expressed that he had to intervene when the House was not in order, and any member was making statements to provoke and disrupt the proceedings.
Regarding LOP mentioning about Gupta’s acts during his tenure as an opposition member back in time, he said it will not be appropriate for him to reply in detail about the reasons for protests back then, but mentioned that she must kindly bear in mind that when he was in opposition, his party members resorted to judicial recourse and got relief from the Courts for the actions of the then Speaker and previous government.
He assured the LOP that he intends to run the House strictly as per the rules, Constitutional provisions, and parliamentary conventions, and asserted that unparliamentary conduct by any member shall be dealt with strictly.
Meanwhile, ahead of the Delhi assembly’s Budget Session which is set to commence on March 24, Atishi wrote to the speaker, demanding fair treatment for opposition MLAs, noting that opposition MLAs have been allegedly silenced.
She has also alleged that BJP enjoyed 86 percent of speaking time while AAP was restricted to just 14 per cent.