Congress stages dharnas demanding resignation of 21 AAP MLAs

NEW DELHI: Scores of Congress workers today staged dharnas in the constituencies of 21 AAP MLAs, who have been appointed as parliamentary secretaries in alleged violation of office of profit rule, and demanded their resignation.

Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken asked party workers to carry out campaigns to expose the "failures and double talk" of the Arvind Kejriwal government.

The dharnas were staged at the end of the party's week-long door-to-door signature campaign demanding the resignation of the 21 AAP MLAs for holding office of profit after President Pranab Mukherjee refused assent to the bill passed by the AAP government to validate their appointment as parliamentary secretaries with retrospective effect.

"The Kejriwal government, which talks about morality and ethics, should immediately seek the resignation of the 21 MLAs as they have no right to remain as legislators after accepting office of profit in contravention of rules and regulations," Maken said.

He said Congress president Sonia Gandhi had resigned from Lok Sabha after she was issued a notice on the office of profit issue in 2006, and had sought re-election from Rae Bareilly.

Addressing a dharna, Maken said Kejriwal had promised that his MLAs would take only a nominal honorarium of Rs 25,000 per month but within one year of assuming office, the AAP MLAs were getting salary 12 times more than that.

Maken alleged the development works started by the Congress government have come to a "grinding halt" in the national capital as Kejriwal has been busy picking up fights with everyone and trying to expand his reach to other parts of the country at the cost of the people of Delhi.