Office of Profit controversy: Congress demands disqualification of 21 AAP MLAs

Congress on Tuesday demanded disqualification of 21 AAP MLAs appointed as parliamentary secretaries in the wake of the President refusing assent to a bill passed by Delhi Assembly to exempt them from the office of profit criteria.

Party spokesman PL Punia also wanted Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to resign taking moral responsibility, alleging that he was making false claims over the issue. Punia said the Supreme Court's orders on the issue of office of profit were crystal clear and, therefore, the AAP MLAs should be disqualified.

Reading out from a notification issued by the Delhi government at the time of the appointment of the 21 MLAs as parliamentary secretaries, he recalled what facilities had been made available to them. He said it is a "well-settled" principle of law that one is considered to be holding office of profit even if he does not draw the emoluments that come with it. In a jolt to Delhi's AAP government, President Pranab Mukherjee had yesterday declined assent to a legislation that seeks to protect them on the office of profit issue, and they now face the prospect of disqualification.