Families of newly elected AAP MLAs throng Assembly on opening day

With the House in proceeding, the visitor’s gallery upstairs was a milieu of relatives of the newly elected MLAs on Monday.

The Assembly being dominated by first-time MLAs, relatives and friends were excited to witness the “special moment”.

“Around 50 people from his family and friend circles are here to see him being elected as the Speaker,” said B L Agarwal, brother-in-law of Ram Niwas Goel, who was elected the Speaker.
His wife Mithilesh sat in the Lieutanant Governor’s gallery to watch him take over the post which is on the left on the Chair.

For a few others there it was almost like an introductory session for relatives of the elected representatives.

They were seen asking each other which constituency their “husband or brother or father” had won from. Some even expressed disappointment that their better halves were not glancing towards the visitors’ gallery.

Asked how she was feeling, Sangam Vihar MLA Dinesh Mohaniya’s wife Rani said, “It is a different feeling.” She was accompanied by her sister-in-law to the ceremony.
The daughters of the MLAs were more enthusiastic in expressing their excitement for the ceremony.

Mundka MLA’s daughter Sangeeta Dalal and her younger sister tried to catch their father’s attention from the gallery by vigorously waving to him.

“This is a big moment for us. Initially, we had not approved of his decision to quit a government job. Today, it feels like there has been a purpose behind it,” said Dalal, who had left her five-month-old baby with her mother to see the ceremony.

MLA from Rajender Nagar Constituency, Vijender Garg, also arrived on the first day of Assembly with his daughter and brother. “I feel great accompanying my father here today,” said Gar’s daughter Akansha.

Young MLAs were seen waving to their friends from the House below. Jangpura MLA Praveen Kumar was in high spirit and looked up from time to time to wave at his friends.
The gallery broke into huge applause when S K Bagga who defeated BJP’s Kiran Bedi from Krishna Nagar constituency took oath.

With the upbeat mood of the House, party workers also reminded each other about the ambience here on “February 14, 2014”.

Helpful relatives

“I had helped my brother in electioneering and it is a proud feeling to see him take oath,” Janakpuri MLA's brother Rajnish Rishi said. He was the only one from the family to show up.

Ashmit Bhui and Jasmine Bindra, family friends of Timarpur MLA Pankaj Pushkar, said they handled the online poll campaign for the AAP leader. Both works for an IT firm. “A month before the polls, we took charge of online campaign for him,” Bindra said.

Gurmeet Kaur, wife of Jarnail Singh – MLA from Rajouri Garden, said the AAP was the right platform to raise voice against the victims of 1984 Sikh riots. In 2009, Singh, an ex-journalist, had hurled a shoe at the then Home Minister P Chidambaram for his remarks on clean chit to Congress leader in connection to the riots.

Meanwhile, the elected Speaker’s daughter Anjali Gupta, present on the occasion, said the purpose of the win would come to fruition only when the party delivers on its promises. “Only then it will make sense to form a political party like AAP,” said Gupta.