Rice Row Sparks Chaos in Delhi Assembly

• AAP legislators carried sacks of rice into the Delhi Assembly and staged a protest.
• MLA Kuldeep Kumar was accused of throwing rice at members and officials.
• Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa denied the allegations and threatened defamation action.
• AAP MLAs Ajay Dutt and Virender Singh Kadyan were marshalled out of the House.

GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 11th Aug: The Delhi Assembly witnessed dramatic scenes on Tuesday as Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators protested over an alleged rice scam, carrying sacks of rice into the House and throwing some of it during proceedings.

AAP MLAs also displayed placards targeting Delhi Food and Supplies Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa and demanded his resignation over the allegations.

Delhi Minister Parvesh Verma alleged that AAP MLA Kuldeep Kumar threw rice at members and officials. He urged Speaker Vijender Gupta to take action against the legislator.

“Speaker Sir, today all the members of the House seek your protection. It has been three days and they have continuously been creating a ruckus. Today, they crossed all limits,” Verma said.

Speaker Vijender Gupta strongly condemned the incident, calling it “the height of indiscipline” and said such behaviour would not be tolerated.

AAP MLAs Ajay Dutt and Virender Singh Kadyan were subsequently marshalled out of the House.

Sirsa, who has been at the centre of AAP’s allegations, rejected the charges and said the Delhi government had neither purchased nor sold the rice.

“The manner in which something was thrown at our officials amounts to contempt of the House,” Sirsa said.

He said the government had only received a representation from a company that had purchased rice and that he had written a note asking officials to consider it according to rules.

“We did not purchase it, we did not pay any money and we have no quota involved,” Sirsa said.

The minister also accused AAP of disrupting the Assembly for three days to prevent discussion on financial assistance for women.

“I will take them to court. I will file a defamation case,” he said.

Sources said Sirsa is likely to send legal notices to AAP Delhi chief Saurabh Bharadwaj and party MLA Sanjeev Jha over the allegations. Sirsa had earlier given them 24 hours to withdraw their allegations and apologise publicly.

Deputy Speaker Mohan Singh Bisht called for strict action and said the incident should be referred to the Privileges Committee.

“This House functions according to rules. The matter should immediately be referred to the Privileges Committee and strict action should be taken,” he said.

Speaker Gupta also criticised the opposition for disrupting proceedings for three consecutive days and not participating in discussions.

AAP has alleged irregularities in an arrangement involving subsidised rice intended for poor and needy people in Delhi.

AAP Delhi chief Saurabh Bharadwaj claimed that an Assam-based corporation had sought subsidised rice for distribution among Delhi’s poor and had submitted a representation to Sirsa.

According to AAP, Sirsa forwarded the representation to his department with instructions to consider it as per rules. The party alleged that officials subsequently approached the Food Corporation of India (FCI) for around 31,000 metric tonnes of rice per week.

AAP further alleged that the subsidised rice was intended to be sold to a private company in Haryana at a higher price instead of reaching beneficiaries.

The party has estimated that the proposed arrangement could have involved rice worth around ₹22,000 crore over three years. However, the ₹22,000-crore figure is AAP’s calculation and has not been established as an official loss.

AAP has demanded Sirsa’s resignation and questioned his role in the matter.