Purported CAG report leak: Vijender Gupta may be in trouble

NEW DELHI: Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta may find himself in a trouble after Speaker Ram Niwas Goel referred the matter of alleged leak of CAG purported report on government's spending on advertisments to the House Privilege Committee.

The Speaker's move comes after Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia requested the Chair to take action against the BJP leader for "leaking" the CAG report to the media before it was obtained by the government.

Later, Gupta alleged that the Kejriwal government was planning to cancel his membership of the Assembly as he was cornering it on several issues.

Quoting a press release on the CAG report issued by Gupta on August 24, Sisodia said in the Assembly that the AAP Government has only spent Rs 74 crore on advertisements in the last fiscal, rejecting the Opposition's allegation of huge expenditure on the same.

The Deputy CM claimed that government has saved Rs 6 crore.

"By leaking the report to the media through a press release, Gupta has committed contempt of House and action must be taken against him and the matter should be referred to the Privilege Committee," he said.

The matter was referred to the Privileges Committee of the House by the Speaker.

Sisodia on August 24 had informed the House that the Delhi government has not received any CAG report.

"Gupta should tell where he found the report," Sisodia said, adding he received the report at 5.30 PM on Wednesday.

Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel rejected both the breach of privileges motions moved by Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta as well as rebel AAP legislator Pankaj Pushkar.

The breach of privilege motion against Sisodia by Gupta alleged that he did not give the right answer in the Assembly on CAG report on Wednesday.
Pushkar, who represents the Timarpur constituency as an AAP MLA, had moved the breach of privilege notice against the Deputy Chief Minister, accusing him of resorting to "falsehoods" while defending the Delhi government on the liquor issue.