MLA drives battery rickshaw to reach Delhi Assembly for ceremony

A battery-run rickshaw looked a little out of place as it stood next to swanky cars parked in the Delhi Assembly on Thursday, the first day of the seven-day session.

After the MLAs’ oath taking ceremony was completed and all the legislators stepped out of the Assembly, it turned out that the three-wheeled vehicle, which is quite popular for ferrying passengers in areas close to Metro stations, belonged to a legislator.

Rajesh Garg, Aam Aadmi Party legislator from Rohini constituency, surprised many by himself driving his vehicle around and showing it to mediapersons. “I do not have a car. The Assembly officials asked me to give my car number to take a parking sticker but I did not have it,” he said.

“This is not just a rickshaw but its my mobile office,” said Garg, pointing to the brooms tied to the luggage carrier on the rickshaw’s roof. A laminated MLA vehicle parking sticker hung from the rickshaw’s handle bar, just over the front wheel’s mudguard.

Earlier in the House, there was a light moment when AAP legislator Dharmender Singh refused to shake hands with opposition BJP’s legislator Ramesh Bhiduri.

Soon after Singh signed the official register after taking oath, he walked past Bhiduri’s seat in the front row of the opposition benches. Bhiduri extended his hand for a shake – as a mark of greeting after Singh’s oath taking – but Singh refused to reciprocate.

Singh came down to his seat without showing much emotions on his face while BJP legislators and reporters in the media gallery on the first floor were left amused by the first-time legislator’s rude gesture.

While the oath taking ceremony extended up to nearly two hours, AAP minister Somnath Bharti seemed restless to get on with his work. He could be seen checking his mails on his tablet while the Assembly proceedings were on.