AAP stages protest in Delhi Assembly against rice ‘scam’, 8 MLAs marshalled out of House

On the final day of the Monsoon Session, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) staged a protest in the Delhi Assembly against alleged irregularities in the procurement of rice. The protesters shouted slogans and threw rice in the House. Subsequently, eight of them were removed by the Speaker, Vijender Gupta, for disrupting the proceedings. The protesters demanded the resignation of Delhi Food and Supplies Minister, Manjinder Singh Sirsa.

They also placed large sacks of rice in front of Leader of Opposition Atishi’s office and raised slogans such as "Gareeb ka chawal kahan gaya? (Where did the rice meant for the poor go?)". Despite alleging a rice scam by the BJP-led government since the start of the session, Sirsa has denied the charge, calling it "false" and "fabricated".

Sirsa stated that he had no involvement in buying or selling rice and accused the opposition of making false allegations. Sirsa intends to take these allegations to court. Sirsa's spokesperson, on X, expressed frustration with the inconsistent accusations from the AAP leadership. Meanwhile, AAP's Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that Sirsa's department recommended the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to provide subsidized rice to a North-East corporation in Assam, which was subsequently black-marketed.