Will resign if Lokpal bill not passed today, says Kejriwal

IANS/New DelhiDelhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal vowed to resign if the Jan Lokpal bill is not passed today in the assembly.“We will try to introduce the Jan Lokpal bill tomorrow. If it is gets beaten and defeated by the Congress and the BJP, I will resign,” Kejriwal told reporters here.Earlier, the assembly crippled by protests by members of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress.The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) wants to pass the bill, which is aimed at curbing corruption in high places, in the four-day session which started yesterday.But if the session was not allowed to be held tomorrow and on Sunday despite the chief minister’s desire, it would be extended.Kejriwal came down strongly on the BJP, the main opposition, and the Congress, which ostensibly props up his minority government.“This is the first time in the history of India that both the Congress and the BJP had such a synchronised setting,” he said. “It was very well co-ordinated.“This is what we wanted. Both parties have a coalition,” Kejriwal said, speaking in Hindi and English.As if to prove Kejriwal right, legislators from the Congress and the BJP repeatedly came up to Speaker M S Dhir, who is from the AAP, and forcibly turned the microphones towards their sides to raise slogans.The house witnessed unending uproar since yesterday afternoon, with both the BJP and Congress members demanding the resignation of Law Minister Somnath Bharti over his alleged misbehaviour with African women.The chief minister said the reason for the BJP-Congress bonhomie was his government’s steps against a leading business house.This, he said, prompted the two parties to oppose the AAP “aggressively.”“No business could take place because the BJP and Congress had already decided that they will not let the house function.“How is it possible that both parties wanted to have discussion on the same (Bharti) issue? They kept disrupting the house again and again.”Speaker Dhir adjourned the house four times as the BJP and Congress members trooped towards him shouting anti-government slogans.BJP legislators Kulwant Rana and R P Singh heckled Bharti and tore papers kept on his table.They also heckled Kejriwal, pointing fingers towards him and taunting him on a variety of issues.Congress legislator Asif Mohamed Khan, who has been at his aggressive best against the AAP for some time, was the noisiest.Khan, a legislator from Okhla in south Delhi, climbed atop the speaker’s podium and tore legislative papers kept there.He then approached Kejriwal and broke the microphone on his desk before tearing the papers kept on his desk.The pandemonium appeared to have no effect on the AAP benches. All 27 party legislators saw through the commotion seemingly unruffled.Kejriwal didn’t speak during the disturbances but watched it keenly. So did Education Minister Manish Sisodia, who was, as usual, seated by his side.