‘AAP MLAs barred from Delhi assembly premises on speaker’s directions’, says LOP Atishi

New Delhi [India], February 27 (ANI) : Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Delhi Assembly Leader of Opposition Atishi on Thursday alleged that police officials have barred AAP MLAs from entering the Delhi Vidhan Sabha premises on the directions of the Speaker.

“Police officers are saying that AAP MLAs are banned from the Delhi Assembly premises. They are saying that they have orders from the speaker to stop the AAP MLAs at the gate. It has never happened in the entire parliamentary history of the country…,” LOP Atishi said while addressing the reporters.

Atishi further said that the decision to prevent AAP legislators from entering the Assembly was unprecedented.

“They are saying that the Speaker has ordered that your MLA should be stopped at the gate of Delhi Vidhan Sabha. They have been removed for a three-day sitting as per the orders. But never in the history of the Delhi Vidhan Sabha, or even the Parliament of the country, has an elected representative been denied entry in such a manner,” she said.

She questioned the rationale behind deploying police personnel to enforce the ban. “If an MLA is suspended, their entry into the House is restricted. However, stopping them 50 meters away from the gate using police barricades is unheard of in the history of any legislative body in the country,” she remarked.

The AAP leader also asserted that the party would continue its efforts to raise the issue. “We are waiting and will fight back,” she added.

BJP MLA Satish Upadhyay backed the suspension of AAP MLAs in the House, “The House will run by law. If they (the opposition) create ruckus and anarchy there (in the House), then the Speaker will take a decision. The decision taken by the Speaker is final.”

MLA Ravindra Singh Negi said, “You (opposition) are roaming around with the picture of Baba Saheb Ambedkar, but you should follow the Constitution as told by him… They (AAP) think that they are still in power, but they should remember that they are out of power now.”

Delhi Minister Parvevsh Verma, said “They (AAP) MLAs cannot raise slogans when the LG is addressing the House. If they break the laws like this, it it is not good.”

The development comes amid heightened tensions between the AAP-led Delhi government and the Assembly Speaker’s office.

On Tuesday, Tensions escalated in the Delhi Assembly as Speaker Vijender Gupta suspended 12 AAP MLAs, including Leader of Opposition Atishi, and AAP MLA Gopal Rai amid an uproar ahead of the tabling of the CAG report.