Chaos likely at MCD meet as tussle goes on
Senior civic officials on Thursday confirmed that Satya Sharma, who was nominated by the lieutenant governor, will preside over the January 26 meeting as well
The MCD House meeting scheduled to be held on January 24 is expected to be stormy as all the issues that led to the chaos in the first meeting on January 4 continue to persist.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has 134 councillors in the 250-member House, had objected to the appointment of a BJP councillor as the presiding officer. It had also alleged that the officer was pushing the swearing in of the nominated aldermen before the councillors to get them to vote in the mayoral polls.
Senior civic officials on Thursday confirmed that Satya Sharma, who was nominated by the lieutenant governor, will preside over the January 26 meeting as well. They added that it is the presiding officer’s prerogative to decide who will take oath first.
“Her appointment was not specific to the January 6 date, and she has already taken oath as the councillor. Sharma will be chairing the meeting next Tuesday,” an MCD official said asking not to be named.
As of Thursday, both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and AAP remained firm on their stated positions, indicating another stormy session.
While BJP MLA Vijender Gupta on Thursday demanded that deputy CM Manish Sisodia give an assurance that the AAP councillors will allow peaceful conduct of the House proceedings on 24th January, Sisodia responded that the BJP must ensure that Constitutional norms are followed.
“However, if they break the norms, my party’s councillors will not allow the BJP to do so,” Sisodia said.
BJP spokesperson Prem Shankar Kapoor said that the mayoral polls elections may be delayed once again on January 24. “The AAP should understand that both elected and nominated members constitute the MCD House. If they thought the appointments of the aldermen was illegal, the AAP should have challenged it in the court. We will insist that the aldermen are allowed to take oath,” he added.
However, several AAP functionaries reiterated their demand that the elected councillors should be sworn in ahead of the aldermen. Former Leader of the opposition in South MCD and second time AAP councillor Prem Chauhan said, “If the nominated members will not vote in mayor elections, then why can’t they take oath after the elected members. We can’t go back on this demand. Why is BJP insisting on them taking oath first. It clearly shows their ill intentions,” Chauhan.