Delhi Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta on Tuesday suspended 12 AAP MLAs, including Leader of Opposition and former minister Atishi and senior AAP leader Gopal Rai amid ruckus over the alleged removal of portraits of Bhagat Singh and Dr BR Ambedkar from the Chief Minister’s Office.
As soon as the address of Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) VK Saxena started, AAP legislators began raising slogans against the BJP government. The AAP MLAs were carrying posters of Ambedkar as they chanted “Jai Bhim” slogans”.
Following the uproar, Speaker Gupta suspended 12 AAP MLAs, including LoP Atishi and Gopal Rai. Later, the AAP legislators staged a protest outside the assembly and raised slogans against the newly formed BJP government.
Reacting to the AAP’s allegations of removal of portraits of Dr Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar and Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Delhi minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said that the AAP MLAs were doing this drama in a bid to divert attention from the CAG report.
“The party (AAP) knows nothing except quarrels. No one can remove the portraits of Dr Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar and Shaheed Bhagat Singh and neither have we removed them. They are doing this kind of drama to divert attention from the CAG report,” he said.
The ruckus by AAP legislators came ahead of the tabling of 14 CAG reports by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta.
These CAG reports, which were allegedly blocked by the previous Aam Aadmi Party government, will scrutinize the financial and administrative performance of the previous AAP government.
Among the key reports to be presented will likely include the State Finances Audit Reports for the years ending March 2021, 2022, and 2023. Additionally, audit reports related to public health infrastructure, liquor supply, transport management, and air pollution mitigation efforts will also be tabled in the assembly.
Another report that is likely to be presented will focus on the state of public health infrastructure and the management of health services. Furthermore, four of the 14 reports pertain to finance and appropriation accounts for the years 2021-22 and 2022-23, prepared by the Delhi government’s Controller of Accounts.