5 men throw soil from Ramlila at Gopal Rai

On Thursday, the Delhi Assembly strongly reacted to an act of “soil throwing” by Swaraj Abhiyan supporters, who were allegedly allowed to enter the premises of the Vidhan Sabha complex by AAP dissident Pankaj Pushkar.

According to Speaker Ram Niwas Goel, five persons, who were allegedly permitted by Mr Pushkar to enter the Assembly premises at around 6.30 pm on Wednesday evening, entered the chamber of transport minister Gopal Rai and misbehaved with him. The police has arrested four persons in connection with the incident for alleged trespassing and other relevant sections of Indian Penal Code, DCP (North) Madhur Verma said.

However, Timarpur legislator Pushkar, denied the charges. Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta accused a senior Delhi government official of mistreating media personnel covering the incident. Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia expressed hope that the Delhi police would act promptly against the alleged act of vandalism. “This is a test case for the police,” he said. Mr Rai said that he was holding a meeting with department officials when five people “barged in” and threw soil around and “started abusing him”. “We know how to fight traitors. When we threw such traitors out of the party, the electoral tally went up from 28 to 67. I demand strict action against them,” Mr Rai said.

Swaraj Abhiyan claimed that these men were carrying soil of Ramlila Maidan in a bid to remind the AAP MLAs of the party’s “forgotten promises” to enact a strong and independent Janlokpal. “They were not only detained unlawfully but also abused and threatened by a senior AAP leader,” a spokesperson of the group floated by expelled AAP leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan said.