People of Delhi will give befitting reply to BJP in elections: AAP on services bill passed by Parliament

Parliament on August 7 passed the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023, that gives the central government control over bureaucrats in the Delhi government.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday targeted the Centre over the Delhi services bill passed by Parliament and said the people of the national capital will give a "befitting reply" to the BJP in the upcoming elections.

AAP chief national spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said the entire opposition "unitedly opposed" the bill. Party Delhi convener Gopal Rai said the bill is an "insult" to the people of Delhi.

"The entire opposition unitedly opposed the unconstitutional bill yesterday. We are fighting the battle in Parliament and the court. The people of Delhi will give them (BJP) a befitting reply in the next elections," Kakkar told PTI.

Parliament on Monday passed the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023, that gives the central government control over bureaucrats in the Delhi government.

Rai alleged that the bill was introduced in Parliament by the Central Government against the decision of the Supreme Court and called it a "murder of democracy".

"The bill brought in Parliament by the Central government against the historic decision of the Supreme Court is nothing but murder of democracy. This is an insult to the people of Delhi. People of Delhi and history will not forgive the BJP. The public will answer this in the Lok Sabha elections 2024," he said in a tweet.

AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Gupta termed the passing of the bill in Parliament as a "black day in democracy" and said the people of Delhi "will reject the BJP" in the upcoming Lok sabha elections.

"August 7 will be known as a 'black day' in Delhi's history. The people of Delhi had rejected BJP before and they will again give a befitting reply to it in the upcoming elections," Gupta said.

AAP MP Sanjay Singh alleged that the digital voting system inside Parliament was damaged and there was "no counting agent" during the passage of the bill.

"For the first time, I am seeing that in Modi ji's Digital India, the digital voting system got damaged inside Parliament itself. Voting was done by slip. There was no counting agent. Don't know who voted for whom. Scams happening inside Parliament," Singh alleged.

The bill, passed by Parliament, replaces an ordinance promulgated by the Centre for handling the transfers and postings of officials in the Delhi government.

Meanwhile, the AAP has defended its MP Raghav Chadha after the BJP accused him of forging signatures of five MPs in a motion related to the Delhi services bill.

Singh claimed that any MP can propose names for the select committee and that "signatures are not required" for it.

"Any MP can propose names for the select committee without their signature. The BJP is spreading lies and rumours," he alleged.

AAP national spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that the BJP is "cooking up a false case" against Chadha.

"Those (MPs) who said that Raghav Chadha forged their signatures, they lied because there was no signature. Breach of privilege motion action can be taken against them. Just like they (Centre) disqualified Rahul Gandhi by creating a false case, BJP wants to do the same with Raghav too. These people are very powerful and can do anything. But we are not afraid of them," Bharadwaj claimed.

Senior AAP leader Atishi also claimed that the BJP accusing Chadha of forgery is "an attempt to take away his Parliament membership".

"It is BJP's attempt to take away the Parliament membership of Raghav Chadha through backdoor, just like Rahul Gandhi's membership was revoked," she alleged.

Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh on Monday announced a probe into the complaints of at least four MPs that their names were included in a proposed select committee of the House for the Delhi services bill without their consent.

The select committee was proposed by AAP member Chadha in the Upper House to examine the Delhi services bill.

AAP spokesperson Kakkar said, "Raghav Chadha proposed the names of 19 MPs (for the select committee), of which five members refused. They made it a big issue out of it because they got scared of his speech."

After the deputy chairman read out the names to be included in the proposed select committee, Home Minister Amit Shah informed that five members have complained that their names were included without their signatures in the proposal moved by the AAP leader.

He demanded that this issue be investigated. Terming it a breach of privilege of the House, Shah said the matter should be referred to the privileges committee.

Then three members, including Sasmit Patra of the BJD, M Thambidurai of the AIADMK and S Phangnon Konyak of the BJP stood up and informed the House that their consent was not taken for the inclusion of their names in the proposed select committee.

To this, the deputy chairman said the complaints of the MPs will be probed. He, however, did not indicate the agency for the probe and the timeframe for completing it.