Date:31/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/31/stories/2008123158150300.htm

New Delhi

Malhotra demands office in Delhi Secretariat

Staff Reporter

Wants proportional representation in House panels

NEW DELHI: Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijay Kumar Malhotra on Tuesday paid a courtesy call on Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit at Delhi Secretariat during which he demanded an office in the building so that press conferences could be organised for raising the view point of the Opposition.

Prof. Malhotra also demanded proportional representation for members of all the parties in the various House committees and their chairs.

Talking to The Hindu, Prof. Malhotra said the Chief Minister had assured that she would consider the requests. “All that we want is a room where we can interact with members of the media and discuss issues. Such facilities are available everywhere, including Parliament.”

The need for the demand arose as after the Assembly sessions get over, the operations of the Government and consequently the media shift to Delhi Secretariat and the Old Secretariat building, where the office of Leader of Opposition is located, wears a more or less deserted look.

By having a room in Delhi Secretariat, Prof. Malhotra hopes to stay in closer contact with the media.

On the issue of having leaders of all parties as chairman of various House committees, the senior BJP leader, speaking from his three decades of experience in Parliament, said even there the representation was on the basis of seats with a given party. “So of the 30 House Committees, BJP members head seven panels, Communists two and Samajwadi Party one.”

But in Delhi, he said, it was pointed out that during its rule from 1993 to 1998, the BJP had not given representation to the Opposition leaders and that trend was still continuing. Prof. Malhotra who had also in the last session of the Delhi Assembly demanded that the seat of the Deputy Speaker should go to the Opposition as is the tradition elsewhere in the country, said: “If some mistake has been made in the past, it does not mean we should continue with it. It is time to herald a new and healthy tradition.”