BJP MLA Vijender Gupta Adopted unusual manner of protest in Delhi assembly 

As the leader of the main – or in Delhi’s case the only – opposition party in the House, Vijender Gupta sits right in the front row on the left of the Speaker. Today he stood, dressed in white kurta-pyjama, on the bench to protest over an alleged tanker scam and then kept standing there as a shocked Speaker admonished him.

“What a shame. I do not remember another time that a member stood on his bench this way,” the Speaker Ram Niwas said, adding, “You hijack all the time of the House.”

Vijender  Gupta was not listening; he kept protesting as the Speaker talked. Mr Ram Niwas finally requested the lawmaker to sit reminding him that he is the leader of the opposition.

The BJP has all of three MLAs in the 70-member Delhi Assembly, dominated by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party, which holds all the other seats. Arvind  Kejriwal was present in the House during Mr Gupta’s protest.

In November last year, Mr Gupta was marshalled out of the House amid uproar over his party colleague OP Sharma’s alleged derogatory remarks against AAP legislator Alka Lamba.
That time, Vijender  Gupta was seen resisting attempts by marshals to remove him by holding on to a bench. The staff had to jostle with him to evict him from the House.