Was kept in dark about Tomar, but Modi must order inquiry into Lalit-Swaraj row: Kejriwal

Faced with protests by three BJP MLAs on the first day of the Delhi Assembly, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was quick to divert attention from the fake degree row of his ex-law minister Jitender Singh Tomar to the current controversy surrounding ex-IPL chief Lalit Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

Disrupting proceedings in the Assembly, BJP legislator OP Sharma questioned how Kejriwal allowed Tomar to hold charge of the ministry for so long. “We demand an explanation from the chief minister over the fake degree case of Jitender Singh Tomar. How was he allowed to be in-charge for so long?” Sharma questioned Kejriwal.

While Speaker Ram Niwas Goel was forced to adjourn the House for 15 minutes following the uproar, Kejriwal was ready with his response to Sharma as soon as the House reconvened.

“Mujhe dhoke mein rakha gaya (I was kept in the dark), but now I have taken strict action against my MLA… Modiji (PM Modi) Sushma Swaraj and Vasundhara Raje’s names are coming out… you should order an inquiry,” Kejriwal retorted, side-stepping the Tomar controversy.

With Mishra unrelenting and continuing his protest, Goel ordered marshals to escort the legislator out of the House.

On Monday, the BJP said it would target the Kejriwal-led AAP government over the fake degree row of Tomar as well as other civic issues the city is plagued with.

The party has proposed to hold a stir outside the Delhi Vidhan Sabha over what it terms as failure in governance.

“Delhi has never witnessed the kind of misgovernment and misuse of funds for the ruling party’s political expansion as we are watching currently.

“In the last 130 days, Delhi has seen several controversies, anarchism and faced the shame of having a bogus degree minister instead of development,” said MP and Delhi BJP General Secretary, Ramesh Bidhuri.

Saying that AAP had come to power in Delhi by promising free water and electricity at half prices, Bidhuri alleged that these assurances have “not been fulfilled by the government”.

He said that the government has given limited subsidies and has not worked on a Summer Action Plan (SAP). “Due to this, the city is witnessing major cuts in electricity as well as water supply,” he said.

BJP also alleged that Delhi government was conniving with the Ambanis and Tatas and that has resulted in an undue six percent hike in electricity rates.

The BJP has only three legislators in the 67-member strong Delhi Assembly.

With additional inputs from PTI