Delhi assembly's budget session begins; BJP MLAs protest Gahlot's presence

The Delhi Assembly's budget session began today amid protests by opposition MLAs over the presence of Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot in the House despite the latter's disqualification in connection with an office-of-profit case.

However, Speaker Ram Niwas Goel, citing constitutional rules, clarified that the minister could attend the assembly proceedings for six months from the date of disqualification.

He said the opposition had unnecessarily tried to create a controversy over continuation of Gehlot in the cabinet and also causing disturbance during the address of the Lieutenant Governor.

The Speaker also charged the opposition MLAs with demeaning the office of LG as well as the House.

"I would like to clarify that as per Section 43 (2) of the NCT Act, he (Gahlot) can continue as a minister for six months without being a member of the House. As far as his role is concerned, that too has been provided in section 11 of the Act which states that he can participate in the proceedings of the Assembly and committees.

"Thus, there are no grounds to prevent Kailash Gehlot from continuing as a minister," Goel said.

As the assembly proceedings began with the arrival of Lt Governor Anil Baijal earlier today, Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta and three other BJP MLAs - O P Sharma, Manjinder Singh Sirsa and Jagdish Pradhan- demanded that only elected members should be allowed in the House.

All four opposition MLAs were marshalled out as they entered the well of the House in protest against Gahlot's participation in the House proceedings.

Gupta said bonafide members were marshalled out while "a disqualified MLA who is a minister attends the budget session".

"Why is Gahlot being allowed to sit in the House even after his disqualification? We were just demanding that disqualified members should not be allowed inside the House, but we were marshalled out," he said.

Twenty AAP MLAs, including the transport minister, were disqualified by President Ram Nath Kovind on January 20 following the Election Commission's recommendations in connection with the office-of-profit case.

Talking to reporters later, Gahlot said he had already taken oath as the minister of the Delhi government and that he could attend the House proceedings for six months.

The assembly secretariat had recently stopped salaries of the 20 disqualified legislators along with curtailing all other facilities provided to them.