First-time MLAs vie for attention as curtains fall

It was virtually like the ‘last day, last show’ for many of the newly elected AAP legislators on Tuesday as they vied for attention on the last day of their first Assembly session.

Hari Nagar legislator and AAP leader Jagdeep Singh came to the Assembly early and interacted freely with journalists.

“We now feel that we are part of the government,” the 42-year-old legislator said.
During the week-long session, many of the AAP MLAs came with their family members and supporters, some brought their parents to the visitors’ gallery and one of the 28 MLAs from AAP came in an e-rickshaw on all the days of House sittings.

“I have this vehicle only, so I have been using it,” AAP legislator from Rohini Rajesh Garg said. His idea of using an unusual mode of transport has earned him attention all through the session.

Many other AAP legislators kept coming to the Assembly on the Metro, mindful as they were that reporters were closely following them and focussing on the preferred mode of transport of the common man’s representatives.

Aam Aadmi Party’s legislator Som Dutt, elected from Sadar Bazar, brought his parents to the Assembly’s visitors gallery. “I did not know the procedure for bringing guests and sought help from the Assembly secretary,” the first-time legislator said.

The last day of the session also proved to be the most noisy and some of the AAP legislators said they were surprised by the developments.

“I had seen parliament proceedings on TV but today I realised for the first time that proceedings in a legislature is virtually a test of one’s ability to shout,” another first-time legislator from AAP said.

Many AAP legislators could be seen before the start of the day’s proceedings and also after the late sitting of the House till Tuesday evening, giving interviews to journalists with glee.

“We do not know when we would be meeting you next in the Assembly complex,” an AAP legislator from east Delhi said.

Supporters of a few legislators seemed a little disappointed over the session coming to an end. “We will have to wait for the next session to see our legislator in action in the House,” an elderly man from Timarpur said and claimed that the AAP legislator from that area was his relative.