A day after the Election Commission recommended to the President that 20 AAP MLAs be disqualified for holding offices of profit, the party said it was being “victimised” and asserted that it was “not afraid of elections.”
The EC said the MLAs, by occupying posts of parliamentary secretaries between March 2015 and September 2016, held offices of profit. AAP Delhi unit chief Gopal Rai said the EC had failed to give the party a hearing before sending its recommendations to the president. “It is an undemocratic step. They are taking revenge on the people of Delhi,” he said. The AAP leader said the appointment of parliamentary secretaries had come up in various other States including Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Rajasthan, but only the AAP was “being targeted.”
“This are double standards. Doesn’t the Constitution apply to all? We are being victimised. It is worse than the British Raj,” he said. The case of disqualification of AAP MLAs is scheduled to be heard in the Delhi High Court on Monday.
ADVERTISEMENT
“We will go to all democratic fora seeking justice,” he said. “They talk of holding an office of profit...the Delhi government has not given a single penny to any of the parliamentary secretaries or even a chair, let alone any office space,” Mr. Rai claimed.
Underlining the AAP’s connect with people, the party’s Delhi unit chief said, “We are not afraid of elections. People decide our destiny.”
The AAP leader said that a plan will be chalked out at the State-level meeting at its office here on Sunday to launch an agitation against the ongoing sealing drive in the city and on foreign direct investment.
ADVERTISEMENT