NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party leader Raghav Chadha on Wednesday told Delhi High Court that he was subjected to “selective targeting” for being avocal opposition member of Parliament. He stated that despite being a sitting lawmaker in the Rajya Sabha, he was being evicted from the bungalow allotted to him.
Chadha has approached the high court and challenged a trial court’s October 5 decision of vacating an interim order which stopped the Rajya Sabha secretariat from evicting him from the official government bungalow. He claimed that out of the 245 sitting MPs in the Rajya Sabha, 115 ha ve been granted accommodation above their ‘default’ entitlement, but he is being targeted.
Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, representing Chadha, told Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani that the MP had been provided Z+ security in view of threats, and a large contingent of security personnel was required to be deployed at his residence. The personnel cannot be accommodated in the bungalow earlier allotted to him at Pandara Park.
Punjab’s Aam Aadmi Party government has accorded Z+ security to Chadha who is a Rajya Sabha member from there. Due to Chadha’s close association with the PunjabDelhi region, and as he is an incumbent MP and a former MLA, a lot of people visit him regularly, Singhvi added.
In his plea, Chadha stated that he is the only sitting MP ever in the history of the Rajya Sabha to be asked to vacate his allotted accommodation after he accepted it, conducted CPWD renovations, took technical possession and started living in the premises. The petition said the Rajya Sabha secretariat had shown great haste in sending notices to him within a couple hours of the trial court’s order. However, the secretariat, represented by Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit, opposed the plea.
The court, which heard the matter on Wednesday for nearly 4 hours, will continue with the hearing on Thursday.
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