A day after chaos and clashes led to the adjournment of the first meeting of the newly elected House of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) without electing the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor, both AAP and the BJP hit the streets of Delhi on Saturday.
AAP staged a protest outside the Lieutenant-Governor’s house over the 10 aldermen nominated by him to the MCD House being administered oath before the elected representatives, alleging that he is “destroying the Constitution” with his actions.
Just two days before the January 6 mayoral polls, L-G Vinai Kumar Saxena had nominated 10 people as aldermen in the corporation’s legislative body. The issue became a political hot potato with AAP alleging that all the nominated members were BJP workers.
BJP leaders stage a dharna at Rajghat in New Delhi on Saturday. | Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
‘Murder of democracy’
On Saturday, led by AAP leader Atishi, party councillors and workers gathered outside the Raj Niwas carrying banners and raised slogans against Mr. Saxena.
BJP leaders, on the other hand, held a sit-in demonstration near Rajghat against AAP, alleging that the latter’s councillors were responsible for the ruckus that took place at the maiden meeting of the MCD House. They termed the incident an insult to the Constitution.
“Despite having 134 corporators, Kejriwal and his party are scared of the internal elections in the corporation. The reason for this is that there is a rift within his party and Kejriwal has resorted to violence to hide that. But the BJP is not going to bow down to the violence,” said Delhi BJP working president Virendra Sachdeva.
Ms. Atishi accused the L-G of “murdering democracy”. “Why were the 10 aldermen nominated bypassing the Delhi government? Why wasn’t the senior-most person nominated as the presiding officer?” she said.
“The L-G and the MCD Commissioner should give a statement in writing that whenever the mayoral election is held, the nominated members will not be allowed to vote in it. Until the statement comes, our struggle to protect the Constitution will continue,” she added.
