Suspended BJP MLAs tell Delhi High Court AAP is politicising issue by comparing it with Raghav Chadha; Court asks them to meet Speaker

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs suspended from the Delhi legislative assembly told the Delhi High Court on Wednesday that the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is giving the issue a political colour by comparing it to the suspension of AAP MP Raghav Chadha from parliament. .BJP has eight MLAs in the 70-member Delhi assembly. Seven of these BJP MLAs were suspended on allegations that they disrupted the address of the Lieutenant Governor (LG).The suspended legislators are Vijender Gupta, Ajay Kumar Mahawar, Anil Kumar Bajpai, Om Prakash Sharma, Jitender Mahajan, Mohan Singh Bisht and Abhay Verma.Senior Advocates Jayant Mehta and Kirti Uppal appeared for some of the BJP MLAs before the High Court and said that even though it is being claimed that the suspension of BJP MLAs is not about party politics but about respect to be accorded to LG, AAP leaders were comparing the issue with Raghav Chadha's suspension and saying why the BJP is disturbed when the same is being done to BJP legislators."More disturbing is the fact that your lordship was told that it is not a political matter but politics is being done," Mehta said.He further said that legislators had written an apology to the LG which has been accepted. A copy of the apology was also marked to the speaker, he stated. .Justice Subramonium Prasad heard the matter and asked the MLAs to meet the speaker today. The single-judge said that he will not say anything on the nature of the meeting or the discussion but the MLAs should go and meet the Speaker. "I am not interested in the nature of the meeting. I am not interested in what transpires in the meeting. I am only saying go and meet the speaker," the Court remarked..Uppal said that as legislators, they have no issues in meeting the Speaker but they are aggrieved by their continued suspension. Justice Prasad said that if the issue is not resolved, the Court will hear the matter at 12 noon on Thursday..The BJP MLAs' moved the Court claiming that the speaker's decision is "grossly unconstitutional" as almost the entire opposition has been suspended from the assembly, "silencing any voice of accountability".They argued that the motion moved by AAP MLA Dilip Pandey was "maliciously engineered" to "disable the opposition members to participate in the discussions on crucial businesses that were to be discussed and to also exclude them, albeit unconstitutionally, to participate in the budget session of the House". The BJP leaders further contended that their suspension even as the matter has been referred to the Privileges Committee is per se illegal and untenable."The suspension of the members is one of the punishments prescribed for the misconduct and contempt of the House. The Speaker on one hand had referred to the Privileges Committee for consideration however on the other hand by suspending the seven MLA awarded the sentence/punishment as prescribed for the misconduct," the plea filed by MLAs Om Prakash Sharma, Jitender Mahajan and Mohan Singh Bisht said. .Advocate Satya Ranjan Swain filed the plea for Om Prakash Sharma, Jitender Mahajan, Mohan Singh Bisht.The petition of Vijender Gupta, Ajay Kumar Mahawar and Anil Kumar Bajpai was filed through advocates Neeraj, Abhishek Saket and Sahaj Garg. Abhay Verma's plea was filed through advocates Himanshu Sethi, Jyoti Taneja, Shrey Sehrawat and Aishwarya Chhabra.