Vijender Gupta questions govt for not inviting LG to address session

Speaker Ram Niwas Goel and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia rejected Gupta's charges

Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta on Tuesday termed as "illegal" the latest session of the House that began on Tuesday, drawing censure from Speaker Ram Niwas Goel.

Gupta said by not inviting the new Lt Governor Anil Baijal to address the "first session of the year", the government has "violated and misused" rules. To which, Goel reprimanded Gupta for "dragging" the new LG who is "good and gentle".

The BJP MLA also questioned the intent of the government in stretching the fourth session of the Assembly over six segments. "It is contradictory that you are conducting monsoon session in winter," he said.

However, both Goel and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia rejected Gupta's charges.

This is the sixth segment of the ongoing fourth session of the Assembly.

During the fifth segment, in November last year, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had levelled allegations of corruption against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Sisodia said the fact that the session was staggered was "indicative of a progressive House" that responds to people's grievances and does not meet to waste time.

"Inviting the LG would have been a violation as it is not a new session in a new calender year but a continuation of an ongoing one. I want to warn you against dragging the name of LG based on a misleading claims.

"We have a new LG who is a gentle and a good person and you have ended up dragging him also. This is an attempt to stall governance in Delhi," Goel said.

Earlier, the Speaker refused to give permission for a discussion on the "behaviour" of former LG Najeeb Jung.

The House began with obituary references to "people who had lost their lives due to the Union government's decision to withdraw Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes from circulation, recent rail accidents and boat tragedy in Patna".

Even in its last sitting, the members had paid a similar homage. Gupta and BJP MLA Jagdish Pradhan had walked out protesting against it.

Meanwhile, two minute silence was also observed in memory of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, former member of the Delhi Metropolitan Council Kulanand Bhartiya and former member of the Delhi Legislative Asssembly Hari Kishan.