New Delhi: In a clear sign that the AAP government was on its last legs, the Congress and the BJP joined hands to paralyse the Delhi assembly yesterday, forcing Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to say he will quit if his attempts to pass the Jan Lokpal bill failed today.
In a dramatic U-turn from the time the Congress mocked at the Bharatiya Janata Party when it extended critical support to Kejriwal on December 28, the two parties came together to taunt the chief minister and his party, targeting Law Minister Somnath Bharti in particular.
Kejriwal, 45, bore through 70 minutes of heckling and ugly sloganeering, only to declare later: “This is the first time in India both the Congress and the BJP had such a synchronized setting. “It was very well coordinated... This is what we wanted,” he said.
Unable to speak in the house, Kejriwal — who had wanted to distribute copies of the Jan Lokpal bill to all legislators — told the media later that he would resign if the bill wasn’t passed Friday in the assembly. “We will try to introduce the bill tomorrow. If it gets beaten and defeated by the Congress and BJP, I will resign.”
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is desperate to pass the bill, which aims to check corruption in high places, during the four-day session which started yesterday.
But this is impossible with the 31-member BJP, the biggest group in the assembly, the eight-member Congress, the lone Janata Dal-United legislator and an independent virtually banding together. The AAP won 28 seats in the December election. But one member has rebelled and has been expelled.
Kejriwal had wanted a special session to be held tomorrow and on Sunday to pass the bill but that appears near impossible without the sanction of the majority in the house. Kejriwal came down strongly on the BJP and the Congress, which ostensibly props up his minority government.
Congress and BJP members repeatedly came up to Speaker M S Dhir of the AAP and forcibly turned his microphones towards them to raise slogans against the AAP and Bharti.
The house witnessed unending uproar since afternoon, with Congress and BJP members demanding the resignation of Somnath Bharti over his alleged misbehaviour with African women.
IANS
