New Delhi, March 22 The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will boycott the Delhi Assembly's budget session if the suspension of four of its legislators is not lifted by the speaker, AAP leader Atishi said on Sunday.
Addressing a press conference on the eve of the session, Atishi accused the BJP of silencing the AAP through privilege notices and suspensions.
The BJP responded, saying that Atishi is unable to accept that the assembly has been conducting business instead of engaging in political speeches.
The four AAP MLAs – Sanjeev Jha, Kuldeep Kumar, Somdutt, and Jarnail Singh – were suspended in the previous session and removed from the official WhatsApp group of the 70 Delhi legislators, Atishi said.
Kuldeep Kumar, an MLA of the AAP and a member of the Delhi Assembly's Public Accounts Committee, was not invited to meetings and was also not provided with draft reports from the committee, she claimed.
"If the unconstitutional suspension of the four MLAs is not lifted, then none of the AAP MLAs will participate in the upcoming session," Atishi said.
The former chief minister alleged that the BJP has been suppressing the AAP through privilege notices and suspensions.
She said that only she was served four privilege notices.
Atishi stated that the AAP will take to the streets with lakhs of people if the opposition's voice is suppressed.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said that Atishi is unable to accept the fact that for the first time, bills are being passed in the assembly and questions of public importance and issues pertaining to Delhi are being raised.
"The previous AAP government only used the assembly to give political speeches instead of understanding the issues of Delhi and forming policies to run Delhi efficiently," he said.
The BJP has 48 MLAs in the assembly, while the AAP has 22.