The Delhi assembly Speaker suspended the BJP MLA Om Prakash Sharma for the remaining Budget Session. OP Sharma has faced the heat for using derogatory language in the House. Sharma had objected to the presence of Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot.
AAP legislators have accused Mr Sharma of using “unparliamentarily and undignified” language in the House. Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel said, “I suspend O P Sharma for the remaining days of the session.” His suspension came after a motion made by AAP MLA Somnath Bharti, was passed by a voice vote.
Mr Sharma getting suspended isn’t a first. He was earlier suspended for two sessions for using derogatory language against AAP MLA Alka Lamba in November 2015.
Mr Sharma said to the AAP MLAs, “You will have to go to jail if you make a fake (EVM) machine”, while referring to a live demonstration of a dummy EVM machine in the House last year.
Opposition’s Voice
Vijender Gupta, leader of Opposition, argued with the Speaker over Sharma’s suspension. In addition, he sought to know the rule of the House under which he was punished.
Mr Sharma told the reporters,
“It is an unconstitutional step aimed at muzzling the voice of the opposition. When we oppose the presence of Gahlot, who has been disqualified by the President, in the House, we are ousted.”
Meanwhile, Mr Gupta said he would appeal to the Speaker to reconsider his decision.
Quite interestingly, on the first day of the Budget Session, i.e. on March 16, all four BJP MLAs were marshalled out of the assembly. They were objecting to the presence of Mr Gahlot in the House.
The opposition exerts that Mr Gahlot has no right to be in the proceedings of the House as he has been disqualified by President Ram Nath Kovind in the office-of-profit case.