'Phansi Ghar' row: BJP-led Delhi govt weaponising Privileges Committee, says AAP

New Delhi, Nov 6 (PTI) The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday accused the BJP-led Delhi government of weaponising the Delhi Assembly’s Privileges Committee after senior AAP leaders Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Ram Niwas Goel and Rakhi Birla received notices over the Phansi Ghar issue.

The Delhi Assembly has summoned these leaders, asking them to appear in person on November 13 before the committee looking into the previous AAP government's 'Phansi Ghar' claims.

In a statement, the AAP said the move was a desperate attempt to deflect attention from the BJP government’s complete governance collapse in Delhi over the past nine months.

The AAP pointed out that the BJP is misusing the committee for "political vendetta" and said "this misadventure" is a distraction strategy, which is "bound to fail not only in a court of law, but in the court of the people".

Commenting on the legality of the notice, the AAP asserted, “The incident mentioned in the Privilege Committee Communication (PCC) took place in August 2022, during the term of the 7th Legislative Assembly of Delhi. However, the 7th Legislative Assembly of Delhi was dissolved in February 2025. The Privilege Committee of the 8th Legislative Assembly of Delhi issued the PCC.” It underlined that after the dissolution of the seventh Legislative Assembly of Delhi, the eighth Legislative Assembly of Delhi cannot initiate a privilege action for actions of the members in the previous assembly.

In September, too, the committee issued notices to Kejriwal, Sisodia and Goel, seeking their responses.

According to a communication issued by the Assembly Secretariat at that time, the Phansi Ghar was inaugurated in the presence of Kejriwal as chief guest, and Sisodia and the then deputy speaker Rakhi Birla as guests of honour, while Goel presided over the ceremony.

During the Monsoon session in August, Speaker Vijender Gupta told the House that the so-called British-era 'Phansi Ghar' (execution room), inaugurated on the assembly premises by Kejriwal with much fanfare in 2022 following renovation, was originally a "tiffin room".

Displaying a 1912 map of the assembly complex, Gupta had said that there was no documentation or evidence indicating that the space was used for executions. He had referred the matter to the committee for examination and report. PTI SLB SLB AMJ AMJ