Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel on Thursday accepted the resignation of former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Ved Parkash who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) earlier this week.
“I have accepted the resignation of Parkash as a member of the Delhi Assembly,” the Speaker said. The development came after Mr. Parkash, accompanied by the Leader of the Opposition, Vijender Gupta, went to the Assembly to call on Mr. Goel.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Gupta had alleged that the former Bawana MLA was forced to wait for around one-and-a-half hours to meet the Speaker, a charge Mr. Goel refuted.
‘Mentally tortured’
“The appointment was fixed at 1 p.m. However, Mr. Parkash was allowed to meet the Speaker after a long wait,” the BJP leader said in a statement. “When he was finally called in, he was mentally tortured. So many things were said and questions asked which were not at all relevant to his resignation. All these had only one point, which was that he must reconsider his decision. Despite his persistent request, his resignation was not accepted,” he further said.
The LOP accused the AAP of “committing excesses on Mr. Parkash for joining the BJP” and pointed out that Rule 255 of the Delhi Vidhan Sabha stipulated that the resignation must be accepted immediately.
‘Unnecessary tension’
However, the Speaker said he had given the appointment to Mr. Parkash at 3 p.m. “I was in my constituency when they came to my office. Mr. Gupta is creating a controversy unnecessarily,” Mr. Goel said.
On March 27, Mr. Parkash had resigned from the AAP and the Delhi Assembly to join the BJP, alleging that the Arvind Kejriwal government has “failed” to deliver on poll promises.
