AAP, BJP MLAs lock horns in Delhi Assembly over Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest

The Delhi Assembly witnessed a pandemonium on Wednesday as ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs resorted to protests and trooped into the well of the House, raising slogans against the arrest of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, while the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators launched a counter-protest, demanding Kejriwal’s resignation. The House was adjourned twice and is scheduled to resume at 11am on April 1.
The session, the first one to be held after Kejriwal’s arrest in the Delhi excise policy case, was called to take up a discussion on the shortage of medicines in hospitals and mohalla clinics in the city.. Health minister Saurabh Bharadwaj has directed chief secretary Naresh Kumar to submit a report in the House, listing the current status of the availability of medicines and diagnostic tests in hospitals and mohalla clinics.
The Assembly sitting was scheduled to begin at 11am but began at 11.30 due to protests by the AAP legislators, and it was adjourned for 15 minutes as soon as it convened. The House resumed at 11.50am but soon the AAP MLAs trooped into the well of the House.
Speaker Ram Niwas Goel made repeated appeals to the MLAs to let the House function. However, it went unheard. Later, the Speaker adjourned the sitting of the House till April 1.
The AAP MLAs, wearing t-shirts with a message ‘Mai Bhi Kejriwal’, protested in the assembly premises and raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The assembly session has been called for the first time after the arrest of CM Arvind Kejriwal, so definitely they will raise a voice against his arrest,” said AAP minister Gopal Rai.
Bharadwaj said, “We oppose the dictatorship of the BJP. They are conducting raids against our people even though elections have been announced. Four of our top leaders are in jail. They (BJP govt) have crossed the limits of dictatorship. They are trying to topple the AAP government, we will keep fighting.”
No immediate response from the BJP was available. The story will be updated when the party responds.
Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) last week in connection with the money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy and has been remanded to ED custody till March 28. He has challenged his arrest in the Delhi high court. The court will take up the matter later in the day.