Kejriwal, other MLAs take oath
25 Feb 2015 5:00 AM IST
Unlike last time, when AAP was running a minority government and had only 28 MLAs in the House, it was a different case this time.
AAP MLA Ram Niwas Goel was unanimously elected Speaker of the Delhi Assembly on the first day of the two-day session of the House. Another ruling party legislator, Bandana Kumari, was elected Deputy Speaker of the House where the main and only Opposition, BJP, has a negligible presence with just three legislators.
AAP has 67 MLAs this time while the BJP has been reduced to 3.
Meanwhile, the BJP, which has been reduced to three in a House of 70, expects the treasury benches to accord it the status of Leader of Opposition in the Assembly and would not ask for it. While the BJP said they would not ask for the post of LoP but may consider if the Speaker offers them one, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia refused to comment on the issue. “We will not ask for the post of the Leader of Opposition. But we want the speaker to go by the rule book,” Vijender Gupta, BJP’s Leader of Legislature party told reporters.
The oath was administered by protem speaker Fateh Singh, who is AAP’s Gokulpuri MLA. The confidence was clearly visible this time, not only on the faces of Kejriwal and Sisodia, but also the first-time MLAs. It was more visible with their dressing and body language. Most MLAs drove down to the assembly in their cars — ranging from SUVs to small hatchbacks.
The visitors’ gallery was packed with AAP supporters. When Kejriwal was administered oath, he was cheered by his MLAs and supporters from the visitors’ gallery. After his oath, he also walked down to the opposition bench and shook hands with all the three BJP MLAs. Apart from Kejriwal, the only person who got an equally loud applause from the MLAs and the visitors was S K Bagga, AAP MLA from Krishna Nagar who defeated BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi.
AAP MLA Ram Niwas Goel was unanimously elected Speaker of the Delhi Assembly on the first day of the two-day session of the House. Another ruling party legislator, Bandana Kumari, was elected Deputy Speaker of the House where the main and only Opposition, BJP, has a negligible presence with just three legislators.
AAP has 67 MLAs this time while the BJP has been reduced to 3.
Meanwhile, the BJP, which has been reduced to three in a House of 70, expects the treasury benches to accord it the status of Leader of Opposition in the Assembly and would not ask for it. While the BJP said they would not ask for the post of LoP but may consider if the Speaker offers them one, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia refused to comment on the issue. “We will not ask for the post of the Leader of Opposition. But we want the speaker to go by the rule book,” Vijender Gupta, BJP’s Leader of Legislature party told reporters.
The oath was administered by protem speaker Fateh Singh, who is AAP’s Gokulpuri MLA. The confidence was clearly visible this time, not only on the faces of Kejriwal and Sisodia, but also the first-time MLAs. It was more visible with their dressing and body language. Most MLAs drove down to the assembly in their cars — ranging from SUVs to small hatchbacks.
The visitors’ gallery was packed with AAP supporters. When Kejriwal was administered oath, he was cheered by his MLAs and supporters from the visitors’ gallery. After his oath, he also walked down to the opposition bench and shook hands with all the three BJP MLAs. Apart from Kejriwal, the only person who got an equally loud applause from the MLAs and the visitors was S K Bagga, AAP MLA from Krishna Nagar who defeated BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi.
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