Numbers on its side, AAP brushes aside opposition

NEW DELHI: Unlike the previous version, the AAP government didn't have to battle numbers in the assembly for the draft Janlokpal Bill, 2015, even as CM Arvind Kejriwal hailed the proposed law as the "strongest".

The BJP moved nine amend ments, which it said would give the bill "legal legitamacy". With numbers on AAP side, the House rejected these, and this was the political ground that the BJP took to oppose the bill's passage.

The Aam Aadmi Party cornered rebel MLA and Swaraj Abhiyan member Pankaj Pushkar by issuing a whip when he sought to move a motion to refer the bill to a select committee.Pushkar chose not to risk his membership and voted in favour of the bill.

The power play was evident in the very public display of the division of votes even as the AAP members celebrated with loud thumping of desks and slogans of Vandemataram.

The story couldn't have been more different on February 14, 2014. It marked the end of the 49 days of AAP's minority government as Kejriwal resigned after taking a high moral ground that his draft Janlokpal Bill was not allowed to be tabled by the BJP and Congress.

On Friday, Kejriwal reminded the House of how the BJP and Congress had joined hands to prevent the tabling of the 2014 draft Bill. However, he steered clear of addressing the protests by opponents not just that of BJP and Congress but also his own former comrades Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan and RTI activists, who have alleged that the 2015 bill is a diluted version of the previous version.

Just before the vote, when Pushkar rose to move a motion that the draft be referred to a select committee for review, Speaker Ram Niwas Goel didn't allow him to speak. He later told the line due to the party whip.