NEW DELHI: A meeting of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) House was adjourned on Tuesday after ruckus erupted on the floor over allegations levelled by AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s personal assistant (PA) Bibhav Kumar of assaulting her, allegedly on Kejriwal’s instructions.
As the session commenced, BJP and Congress councillors gathered in the well of the House and shouted slogans against Kejriwal and demanded his resignation. Slogans like “Kejriwal haye haye" (shame, shame) and “Kejriwal istifa do” (resign) echoed throughout the MCD House.
Opposition councillors, holding posters with “Dalit Mayor ko kursi par baithao, Dalit virodhi Kejriwal istifa do” inscribed on them, stood at the mayor’s podium. Eventually, amidst the commotion, the mayor adjourned the House.
BJP councillors Raja Iqbal Singh and Yogesh Verma also brought forth a censure motion in the house.
“Today we had brought the censure motion and councillors of Congress and AAP, irrespective of party lines, were in support of it. The entire House wanted to condemn the indecent behaviour meted out to Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal by his PA at CM Arvind Kejriwal’s house,” said Singh, also the leader of the opposition in the House.
He further said, “This exposes the double character of Chief Minister Kejriwal. On the one hand, they talk about women’s safety across the country, but their own Rajya Sabha member and former chairperson of the women’s Commission is not safe in his own residence. The Mayor knew that all the councillors would support this censure motion, so she adjourned the House.”
In response to the censure motion, Mayor Shelly Oberoi said, “The BJP councillors have only one objective; to create obstruction in the proceedings of the House. They have to raise issues that have nothing to do with the corporation. This is the House of MCD. Hence, only the issues of the corporation should be raised here. Let us talk about public works here. But this time also, the BJP councillors created a ruckus.”
Proposals held up
Amid the ruckus in the MCD House on Tuesday, several proposals, including giving administrative sanction for the disbursal of Rs 1,100 to students in civic-body-run schools for purchasing uniforms, and construction of a medical college, among others, could not be passed.
Proposals to give administration sanction for the disbursal of Rs 1,100 to MCD school students for purchasing uniforms, Rs 120 for school bags, and Rs 300 for notebooks and stationary were slated to be tabled in the House. The high court had directed MCD to transfer the Welfare Scheme amount to the students urgently.
