BJP MLA seeks disqualification of 19 Cong MLA

New Delhi, Mar 28: Seeking disqualification of 19 Congress MLAs from the Delhi Assembly for holding 'office of profit' in his memorandum to the President A P J Abdul Kalam, BJP Legislator Vijay Jolly today said the Sheila Dikshit government would come down if his petition on the issue was approved.

Stressing that the Congress MLAs who had held 'office of profit' since 2004 were liable for disqualification under Article 191 (A) of the Constitution, Mr Jolly said the posts were distributed by M S Dikshit to buy peace with her critics in the party and save her government from revolting Legislators.

''The MLAs, both present and those during the previous regime of M S Dikshit government, were either anointed to the nine District-level Development Committees of Delhi or to posts like Parliamentary Secretary to the Chief Minsiter (Naseeb Singh), Chairman Delhi Trans-Yamuna Board (Narendra Nath), Vice-Chairperson Delhi Jal Board (Anjali Rai), Delhi Wakf Board (Mateen Ahmad).'' They received substantial salaries, allowances, government vehicles and held authority to spend crores which was a 'profitable' one, he added.

In his 31-page petition to the President today, Mr Jolly also sought Congress MP Sajjan Kumar's disqualification from the Lok Sabha on grounds of having held the post of Delhi Rural Dvelopment Board Chairman in 2004 -- which he was forced to resign last year -- as an MP.

Hoping that the President takes an early decision of the issue, Mr Jolly, BJP MLA from Saket in South Delhi, said the order of the government under which these MLAs were anointed was ultra vires and liable to be challenged in the court, and hence a decision in this regard should be taken at the earliest.

UNI