MLA wallops MLA, as Govt officials watch

The occasion was a meeting called by A K Walia, Health minister and chairman of the Trans-Yamuna Development Authority, on Wednesday to discuss funds for unauthorised slums in east Delhi.

Seelampur’s independent MLA Ahmed was furious when Qarawal Nagar MLA Bisht of the BJP asked Walia for funds for roads and drains for unauthorised slum colonies in his constituency under the Trans-Yamuna Development Project.After a long and heated debate over the allocation of funds by Walia for Ahmed’s constituency, during which Bisht intervened, tempers rose high. Ahmed suddenly lost his temper. `Wasn’t it your BJP government which clubbed colonies together to weaken minority vote banks?’ heasked.

`You must rise above party politics in matters of development,’ Bisht said. `You never work for colonies inhabited by minorities. What about rising above religion then?’ Ahmed said.

`I didn’t want to talk of communal matters and so I ignored him. He pulled my collar and attacked me,’ says Bisht. `He threatened to kill me in front of about 17 MLAs and MCD and DSIDC officials,’ says Bisht. Ahmed does not deny this. When asked if he sustained any injuries in the fight, Ahmed says: `How would I get injured? It was I who beat him’.

Bisht vowed to complain to the CM and the Speaker. `He cannot misbehave with me and get away,’ says Bisht.