Games,inside and outside House

Later,when Congress MLA Subash Chopra was giving the government’s defence,the Opposition screamed that the ruling party probably needs to give the explanation to Aiyar. Chopra,meanwhile,went overboard saying he would like to congratulate Kalmadi for bringing the Games to Delhi. As expected,the House erupted soon after.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit launched a counterattack on the BJP,accusing it of spreading ill-will against the Games and spoiling the mood. “You have vitiated the atmosphere by unnecessarily finding faults just for the sake of it,” she retorted,interrupting Malhotra as he accused her government of messing up preparations.

Contesting the Opposition’s accusations,PWD Minister Raj Kumar Chauhan said shortcomings pointed out by the Central Vigilance Commission were part of routine inspections and the state had replied satisfactorily to all the six observations made by it. “There has been no comment or indictment of any official and the department as such in the CVC’s preliminary assessment,” he said. Despite battling massive cost escalation,Chauhan claimed the state government had actually saved Rs 250 crore in Games projects so far. He said only Rs 3,803 crore was being spent on Games projects,while as much as Rs 16,198 crore has been spent on overall development of the city.

The Opposition walked out of the House saying Chauhan was under the scanner as the Lokayukta was probing charges that he allegedly tried to influence a tax raid on a South Delhi resort.

Earlier,the five-day session began on a stormy note with BJP members protesting outside the Assembly even before the House could convene.

PEEPLI ‘LIVE’
Tuglaqabad MLA Ramesh Bidhuri was seen banging on steel plates as Kulwant Rana sang a parody of the Mehangai Dayan from Peepli Live. The duo was reluctantly accompanied by Sangam Vihar MLA S C L Gupta. After about ten minutes,Speaker Yoganand Shastri ordered the marshals to escort the trio out.

DENGUE PROTEST
RJD MLA Asif Mohammad Khan,who rose to discuss the danger of dengue in his Okhla constituency,was asked to sit down as the BJP had been demanding a discussion on the Commonwealth Games. Khan,however,refused to sit and was forcibly taken out of the House by the marshals.

UGLY SPAT
As the House was discussing the Games,a verbal duel ensued between Congress MLA Naseeb Singh and Lok Janshakti Party MLA Shoaib Iqbal. The discussion,which started over keeping their constituencies clean,turned ugly when both started mouthing expletives. Iqbal stormed to the well of the House and asked the Speaker to suspend Singh.