: A major furore gripped the Delhi Assembly on Tuesday that almost brought legislators to fisticuffs and culminated in the suspension of a BJP MLA from the House for making derogatory comments against his female colleagues.
Legislative business on the Assembly's agenda for the day came to a grinding halt.
Om Prakash Sharma, who represents east Delhi’s Vishwas Nagar assembly constituency and is one of just three BJP representatives in the 70-member Aam Aadmi Party-dominated (AAP) Vidhan Sabha, was expelled following a verbal confrontation with Chandni Chowk MLA Alka Lamba and will remain under suspension till Thursday.
This is not the first such confrontation between the two; in early August this year, Ms. Lamba had led a 'raid' at a restaurant which Mr. Sharma operates in north Delhi's Kashmere Gate area leading to a series of allegations and counter-allegations.
Even as Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took to Twitter to express shock over the incident, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia urged Speaker Ram Niwas Goel to refer the matter to the ethics committee for further action.
A party source told The Hindu that AAP legislators would seek 'nothing less than' Mr. Sharma's suspension from the House till the conclusion of what remains of the Winter Session which is scheduled to end on November 28. The party, according to the source, was ‘also considering disciplinary action’, which included the registration of a criminal case and the cancellation of the BJP legislator’s membership from the Assembly.
“I am shocked at the language used by BJP MLA O. P. Sharma against a lady MLA. Two days back also he abused a lady MLA. Hope BJP will act against him,” Mr. Kejriwal tweeted. Delhi Jal Board Chairman and Karawal Nagar MLA Kapil Mishra tweeted, “black day in the history of democracy. The language used by Mr. Sharma is simply unacceptable” in reference to the incident.
Mr. Sharma made back-to-back remarks against Ms. Lamba during a discussion on homeless people and the availability of night shelters in Delhi initiated through a calling attention motion by Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta.
Mr. Gupta said that this year as many as 402 deaths of homeless persons had been reported till date as per figures recorded by north Delhi's Kashmiri Gate police station as opposed to 221 deaths last year following up with the allegation that the AAP government was 'not serious about this matter.'
Ms. Lamba intervened in the discussion saying that the deaths were not due to cold but due to drug abuse – a statement which she had made on Monday as well – prompting Mr. Sharma to counter her with personal and derogatory comments directed against her.
This prompted the AAP MLA's to rush the well of the House.
The day’s agenda relating to the introduction of The Working Journalists and Other Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service) and Miscellaneous Provisions (Delhi Amendment) Bill and the Minimum Wages (Delhi) Amendment Bill was stalled.
Consideration and passing of the significant Delhi (Right of Citizen to Time Bound Delivery of Service) Amendment, which was introduced on Monday, was also dropped.
