Twelve Aam Aadmi Party MLAs, including Leader of Opposition Atishi, were expelled from the Delhi Assembly on Tuesday by Speaker Vijender Gupta for disrupting Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena’s address to the House, reported The Indian Express.

The Opposition MLAs shouted slogans accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party of removing images of BR Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh from the office of the chief minister, which led to the House being adjourned for 30 minutes.

The suspended MLAs continued protesting outside the Assembly premises, shouting “Babasaheb ka ye apman nahin sahega Hindustan [India will not tolerate this insult to Babasaheb]”.

While the BJP won 48 seats in the Delhi elections earlier this month, the Aam Aadmi Party won 22. The BJP returned to power in the capital after 26 years.

This is the first time that the Aam Aadmi Party is in the Opposition in Delhi since coming to power for the first time in 2013.

The party’s MLAs who were expelled on Tuesday also include Gopal Rai, Veer Singh Dhingan, Mukesh Ahlawat, Chaudhary Zubair Ahmed, Anil Jha, Vishesh Ravi and Jarnail Singh.

“The BJP has shown its true colours by removing Babasaheb Ambedkar’s portrait,” Atishi remarked after being suspended. “Does it believe Modi can replace Babasaheb?”

She also claimed that the BJP-led administration had removed Ambedkar and Singh’s portraits from both the chief minister’s office in the Delhi Secretariat and the Assembly. “We will keep protesting against it until the portrait of Dr BR Ambedkar is put in its place,” Atishi told reporters.