7 BJP MLAs suspended from Delhi Assembly budget session

Seven BJP MLAs were suspended for the remainder of the Budget session of the Delhi Assembly on Friday for interrupting the Lieutenant-Governor's address. The MLAs interrupted LG V.K. Saxena multiple times during his address on Thursday as they sought to attack the Arvind Kejriwal government.

Delhi Assembly speaker Ram Niwas Goel has also sent the matter of the disruption to the privileges committee.

Aam Admi Party (AAP) MLA Dilip Pandey moved a resolution in the house seeking action on this issue, which was accepted by the speaker. Pandey said the opposition members acted in an "planned manner" on Thursday while disrupting the LG's address, which lowered the prestige of the House.

"It was unprecedented and unfortunate," he said. Reading from the rule book, he said the behaviour of the opposition members has lowered the dignity of the house, and demanded action.

Speaker Goel, while accepting the resolution from Pandey, said the matter be sent to the privileges committee, and added that the seven Aseembly members of the BJP, barring Leader of Opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, will be suspended from the proceedings of the house as long as the report is pending.

The speaker later asked the seven members — Mohan Singh Bisht, Ajay Mahawar, O.P. Sharma, Abhay Verma, Anil Vajpayi, Jitender Mahajan and Vijender Gupta — to leave the chamber of the house. Leader of the opposition Bidhuri also walked out of the house in protest.

On Thursday, Goel had asked marshals to escort the BJP MLAs out of the house after they had repeatedly interrupted the LG's address during the Budget session, highlighting the achievements of the AAP government.

Seven of the eight BJP MLAs in the house, barring Bidhuri, were marshalled out by the speaker for interrupting the LG's address on the first day of the session, Assembly officials had said.

As soon as Saxena began reading out his speech and cited achievements of the government in the field of education, BJP MLA Gupta interrupted him, raising the issue of funding for 12 colleges under Delhi University.

Other BJP MLAs alleged shortage of water, non-implementation of the Ayushman Bharat scheme, poor condition of hospitals, and electricity tariff, with the LG continuing and concluding his address amid multiple interruptions.

The Budget session of the Delhi Assembly has been extended until the first week of March owing to a delay in budget finalisation.