BJP’s Vijender Gupta evicted from House

Amid high drama, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Vijender Gupta, Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, was on Monday marshalled out of the House which saw continued uproar over his party legislator OP Sharma’s alleged derogatory remarks against ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Alka Lamba.

Speaker Ram Niwas Goel initially asked Gupta to leave the House till 4 pm after he entered into a war of words with AAP’s women MLAs over the week-old issue. When he refused to budge, marshals were called in who took Gupta out forcibly. The BJP lawmaker resisted the marshals and tried to hold on the bench but the staff jostled with him and evicted him from the House.

The incident occurred on a day Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was scheduled to introduce the Delhi Janlokpal Bill 2015 in the House.

Before his eviction, Gupta accused the Speaker of being partial towards the AAP, alleging that the three BJP legislators were abused and assaulted by AAP members. “But no action has been taken against them,” he alleged.

He said Goel’s action was unwarranted as the House had important business lined up for the day, including the tabling of the Janlokpal Bill. BJP member Jagdish Pradhan also walked out of the House, following Gupta’s eviction.

BJP MLA OP Sharma has already been suspended by the Speaker for the rest of the session over his remarks against Lamba.

Rebel AAP MLA Pankaj Pushkar was also unable to take part in the proceedings of the day as he was suspended till November 30. Earlier, women MLAs of AAP charged that Sharma had used derogatory remarks against Lamba again during a protest in the Nihal Vihar area on Monday.