Rebel Aam Aadmi Party leader Kapil Mishra and Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta were marshalled out of the Delhi Assembly on Monday, minutes after a special session of the House had commenced. The session was convened to discuss last week’s attack on Arvind Kejriwal; a man threw chilli powder at the chief minister outside his office in the Delhi Secretariat on November 20.

Mishra, who was the water minister in the AAP government until May 2017 when Kejriwal sacked him, later said he had demanded a discussion about the strike called by contractual employees of the Delhi Transport Commission and on the issue of alleged Bangladeshi migrants living in the Capital.

When Mishra walked up to Speaker Ram Niwas Goel’s chair, he was asked to go back to his seat. Despite repeated warnings from Goel, Mishra refused to return to his seat. Goel then directed the House marshals to take him out of the Assembly.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Vijender Gupta tried to disrupt Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain’s speech on bringing the Delhi Police under the control of the Delhi government. In his speech, Jain criticised the Centre and the Delhi Police over the attack on Kejriwal.

Gupta objected to Jain’s speech and tried to disrupt it. When he did not relent despite the Speaker’s repeated warnings, Goel ordered him to be marshalled out.

“This is 19th time I am marshalled out from Delhi Assembly within 5 minutes of starting of session,” Mishra said on Twitter. “My fault – I demanded discussion on contract employees, pollution and Bangladeshis.”

Mishra was suspended from AAP in May 2017 after accusing Kejriwal and some of the party’s top leaders of corruption. Mishra then demanded Kejriwal’s resignation and threatened to drag the chief minister to jail.

Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker Rakhi Birla extended the session, which was supposed to conclude on Monday, by a day, PTI reported. Legislators are expected to discuss the issue of alleged mass deletion of voters on Tuesday.

‘Special session was a waste of public money’

The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party said the special Assembly session was an attempt to divert the attention of people from the failures of the AAP government and misbehaviour of the ruling party’s legislators, PTI reported. BJP leaders and workers also staged a protest at the Vidhan Sabha against the special session called by the AAP government.

“Why didn’t Kejriwal lodge any FIR in the matter?” asked Delhi BJP General Secretary Kuljeet Singh Chahal said. “Why is he attacked during the time of elections?”

Chahal said the chilli attack on Kejriwal was fabricated to divert attention from the First Information Report against party legislator Somnath Bharti and the issue of BJP’s Delhi unit chief Manoj Tiwari being insulted by AAP legislator Amanatullah Khan.

BJP leader Ravinder Gupta said the special session was a “waste of public money and betrayal” for the people of Delhi.

During the session, BJP legislators raised objections to cabinet ministers and legislators wearing caps with the party’s logo, saying it was violation of rules. BJP’s Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta said he has written to Speaker Ram Niwas Goel seeking “strong action” against AAP leaders who wore caps.

AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said the legislators decided to wear caps in the House since it was the party’s sixth foundation day. “I don’t think that there is procedural lapse and it has not hurt sentiments of anyone,” he said.