Delhi Assembly session likely to begin on stormy note

New Delhi, Sep 25 (PTI) A two-day session of the Delhi Assembly, which will witness a trust vote brought by the newly-formed Atishi government, is likely to start on a stormy note on Thursday, with the LG Secretariat seeking tabling of the pending CAG reports and the Opposition BJP trying to corner the ruling AAP over issues of corruption and others.

The new government headed by Chief Minister Atishi is expected to seek a vote of trust in the House on Friday, said an assembly official.

According to the list of business, the House will have an obituary reference after it commences at 11 am on Thursday, followed by special mention (Rule-280) under which the MLAs will raise matters concerning their respective constituencies, he said.

Meanwhile, the LG Secretariat has written to Chief Secretary Dharmendra and Finance Secretary Ashish Chandra Verma, asking them to lay pending reports of the apex auditor CAG in the assembly during the session on September 26-27 after bringing the matter to the chief minister's attention.

Twelve Comptroller and Auditor General's reports from the period 2020-2021 remain pending with the state government, the LG Office said in a statement on Wednesday.

"These reports include state finances audit, prevention of vehicular air pollution, public health infrastructure and services, regulation and supply of liquor, finance accounts and appropriation accounts," they said.

Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, Vijender Gupta, said that his party MLAs will compel the AAP government to discuss the problems of Delhi's 20 million people and hold it accountable.

The opposition will take an "aggressive stance" in the upcoming assembly session and demand answers from the government on the issues like rain-related deaths during Monsoon, tabling of pending CAG reports, non-issuance of ration cards, water shortage, stalled old age pensions, "dysfunctional" transport system and non-formation of Sixth Delhi Finance Commission among others, he said.

The issues like Delhi Jal Board's 73,000 crore debt, alleged corruption, stalled funding of colleges and discrimination against the BJP MLAs will also be raised during the session, Gupta said.

The current strength of the 70-member Delhi Assembly is 67. Two AAP MLAs were disqualified for joining the BJP while former Leader of Opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri was elected as South Delhi MP in the recent elections.

The effective strength of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that won 62 seats in the 2020 polls is currently 58. While two of its MLAs were disqualified under anti defection law, two were in jail. The BJP has currently seven MLAs in the House.

The AAP sources said that its top leaders, including national convener Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, will seek to corner the BJP and its government at the Centre. PTI VIT BUN AS AS