The winter session of the Delhi Assembly ended on Friday, but not without some embarrassing moments for urban development minister Arvinder Singh and power minister Haroon Yusuf.
Four BJP MLAs — 19 were marshalled out from the House on Thursday — got into the well of the House at the start of Question Hour. They demanded dismissal of Singh and Yusuf for “hobnobing with criminals, running business secretly and awarding contract of bus service.”
The four BJP legislators — Satya Prakash Rana, Subhash Sachdeva, Praduman Rajput and Sunil Vaidya — raised slogans and showed a copy of a newspaper, which carried a story related to frequent phone conversations among Singh, Yusuf and Hardeep Chadha, who was killed at a Chattarpur farmhouse along with his brother Ponty last month.
The four MLAs were, however, marshalled out soon by Speaker Yoganand Shastri, who took the matter casually.
“Such things keep getting printed in newspapers without any thorough investigation or proof,” Shastri said before ordering the four MLAs out.
Then Uttam Nagar Congress MLA Mukesh Sharma rose up in defence of the two ministers. “We are public representatives and meet people from all walks of life. How is one supposed to know whether a person is a criminal, anti-social or a terrorist?” Sharma said.
“Only police and court can establish these things. I know many big names in the country. If any of these are found to be involved in any illegal activity, then does that mean I am also involved?” he said.
Arvinder Singh on Thursday had claimed that he had no business link with the Chadha brothers. He had said his family has a relationship with the Chadha family since the time of his grandfather.
BJP to protest
Not to let the opportunity slip, city BJP president Vijender Gupta said BJP will fight on streets to Parliament for dismissal of the two ministers.
At a press conference at BJP headquarters, Gupta said the party will hold protests on Saturday at Aggarwal Sweets, Azad Nagar Chowk, east Delhi and Bada Hindu Rao Chowk, demanding dismissal of both the ministers and an impartial probe against them.
“Then on Monday, we will raise this issue in Parliament. We fear that if both continue in their posts, they will destroy evidence and threaten witnesses, hampering an impartial probe,” said Gupta.
He said the two ministers should have resigned on moral grounds right after allegations were levelled against them.
Action against tent mafia
Mukesh Sharma slammed the muni3cipal corporations in the House for corruption in release of aged and widow pensions, and irregularities in booking parks and community centres for weddings and other social events.
Sharma said a nexus between the “tent mafia” and municipal corporators is creating problems for people in booking parks and community halls.
“The tent mafia is working overtime to get advanced bookings in fake names, and to transfer the bookings in favour of needy persons by charging a hefty fee,” he said.
“Corporators are becoming a party to these tent mafias in squeezing money from the needy,” he said.
‘Will look into matter’
Arvinder Singh assured the House that the matter will be looked into, and promised to write to the Lieutenant Governor to stop the practice of letting corporators give recommendations for booking parks or community halls.
Sharma said the process of releasing pension in the corporations is opaque.
“Due to lack of an electronic clearance system in payment in the corporations, beneficiaries are finding it difficult to get the full amount of their pensions.
Officers and up to some extend even corporators have been keeping a part of pensions while distributing them at their ease,” said Sharma, demanding electronic transfer of pensions into the accounts of beneficiaries directly.