Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Raghav Chadha on Tuesday hailed the Delhi high court decision that set aside a trial court order paving way for Rajya Sabha secretariat to evict him from the bungalow allotted to him last year.
Calling the court verdict a ‘victory of justice’, Chadha posted a video message on his X account. Stating that his fight is to protect the constitution, the Rajya Sabha lawmaker said,“It is not a fight to save house or a shop. It is a war to protect the constitution. I am happy that justice prevailed in the fight today. Truth won and lies lost. But it is for the first time in India’s parliamentary history that an MP of a small political party is being harassed”.
In his video, Chadha linked the cancellation of the allotment of his government bungalow on March 3 to his maiden speech in the Rajya Sabha. “I have given two speeches in the Rajya Sabha till now. Days after my maiden speech, I received a letter cancelling the allotment of my bungalow. I was suspended from the Rajya Sabha after my second speech. Never has the Rajya Sabha witnessed such actions arising due to political enmity and vendetta”, he said.
Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is in power at the Centre, of vendetta against the opposition leaders, Chadha said,”The leaders of non-BJP and ‘INDIA’ alliance parties are being selectively targeted. I want to say this to the people in BJP- You might evict me from my house and even the Rajya Sabha, but not from the hearts of millions of people”.
Last year, Chadha, a Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab, was allotted a Type VII bungalow at Delhi’s Pandara Road. He took the possession of the bungalow in November 2022. But on March 3, his allottment was cancelled on the grounds that Chadha was a first-time MP and was entitled to only a Type VI bungalow.
The AAP leader moved a Delhi trial court, which in an April 18 interim order restrained the secretariat from dispossessing the MP from the bungalow till the adjudication of his suit seeking permanent injunction.
In another development, Chadha was suspended from the Rajya Sabha during the Monsoon Session after he allegedly included the names of five MPs to a select committee without their consent. He is suspended until the committee of privileges probing the case against him submits its report. On Monday, the Supreme Court had issued a notice to the Rajya Sabha secretariat over his suspension.
