Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel today wrote to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal about his decision to retire from electoral politics, citing his advancing age. In his letter, Ram Niwas Goel expressed gratitude for the respect shown by all party legislators.

AAP supremo and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal responded to the letter, and said that Ram Niwas Goel’s decision to leave electoral politics is an emotional moment. Taking to X, the AAP supremo wrote that Ram Niwas Goel’s guidance has shown us the right direction inside and outside the House for years. 

He continued that due to increasing age and health, Goel had recently expressed his desire to leave electoral politics just a few days ago. Mentioning that they respect his decision, Arvind Kejriwal wrote that Ram Niwas Goel was, is and will always be the guardian of our family. The party will always need his experience and services in the future too, he added.

Ram Niwas Goel has been serving as Speaker of the Delhi legislative assembly since 2015. He also represents the Shahdara Assembly seat of Delhi as an MLA. He defeated Jitender Singh Shunty of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) by a margin of 11,731 votes in the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections. In 1993, he made electoral debut and contested the elections as a BJP candidate, winning the poll.

Notably on Wednesday, the Seventh Delhi Legislative Assembly concluded its five-year term, holding its 74th and final sitting before the upcoming elections slated for February 2025. Addressing the house, Speaker Ram Niwas Goel called the occasion emotional and historic.

During the tenure, the assembly addressed 1,095 questions during the Question Hour, tabled 19 committee reports, and passed 26 Bills.

Speaking to the media, he said that as Speaker, he has fulfilled his duties impartially, giving equal importance to both the ruling party and the opposition. Despite being a Union Territory Assembly with limited powers, remarkable work has been accomplished, he continued. 

Senior Congress leader and the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi today asserted that the Uttar Pradesh police stopped his convoy at the Ghazipur border, blocking his planned visit to violence-hit Sambhal. The Senior Congress leader added that the police denied him his constitutional rights to meet the affected people.

The Leader of Opposition said that he was ready to relinquish his convoy and go to Sambhal alone with the police. He said the authorities had asked him to return after some days. Rahul Gandhi mentioned that as a Leader of Opposition, it is his right to go to the violence-hit area, but the police are stopping him. He added that the police said that they will allow him to go after a few days.

He pointed out that denying him to go to Sambhal is against the rights of LoP and the Constitution. He said that they want to go to Sambhal and see what happened there, and meet the people. Claiming that his Constitutional rights are not being given to him, he said that this is the new India, an India to end the Constitution.

Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra stated that as the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi has the right to meet the victims of the violence. She mentioned that whatever happened in Sambhal is wrong. She asserted that Rahul Gandhi is the leader of the opposition, he has constitutional rights and he cannot be stopped like this. She continued that Rahul Gandhi has the constitutional right to be allowed to go and meet the victims. 

She asserted that Rahul Gandhi also said that he would go alone with the UP police but they are not ready to do that either. She said that the police have no answer, adding that maybe the situation in Uttar Pradesh is such that they cannot handle even this much. 

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh’s deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak said Congress leaders were trying to politicise the Sambhal violence. He further appealed to the politicians to not spoil the law and order of the state. He said that cartridge shells that came from Pakistan have been recovered there and the matter is being investigated. 

He assured that whoever is involved in this will not be spared. He continued that UP has changed now, and they will not be able to divide UP. He mentioned that whenever there is a big disturbance, the police impose Section 144, under which a crowd cannot gather until peace is restored. As long as the section is in place, Congress should not attempt such acts there, he said.

In a tragic incident, a man opened fire at Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal this morning while he was serving his penance at the entrance of Golden Temple in Amritsar. Reportedly, the shooter was overpowered by people present on the spot.

Sukhbir Singh Badal, a former Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab, is performing sewadar duties after the Akal Takht pronounced the religious punishment for him and several other Akali leaders for mistakes committed during the party’s rule in Punjab from 2007 to 2017. The SAD chief has been asked to serve as a sewadar, wash dishes and clean shoes at Golden Temple and several other gurdwaras.

In the past two days, Sukhbir Singh Badal has been sitting at the gate of Golden Temple with a spear in one hand and dressed in blue sewadar uniform. The Akali Dal leader’s leg is in a cast and he is in a wheelchair.

Reportedly, the incident occurred around 9 am on Wednesday, shortly after SAD leader Badal had taken the sewadar’s place at the Golden Temple gate. The man has been identified as Narain Singh from Gurdaspur district, about 75 km from Amritsar. Several visuals from the spot show him slowly approaching the gate, and then quickly brings out a gun. 

Another man standing near Sukhbir Singh Badal spots him in time and holds his hand. The gun goes off but misses the SAD Chief and others near him and hits the wall. The shooter has been arrested and police are investigating the motive behind the shocking attack.

Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has said the promptness of the state police foiled a conspiracy to defame Punjab and Punjabis. Taking to X, the Chief MInister said that the police achieved great success by arresting the assailant on the spot with their promptness. He appreciated the promptness of the police, and strongly condemned the attack on Sukhbir Badal. He added that he has issued strict instructions to the police to immediately investigate the incident and submit a report.

Furthermore, Amritsar Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said alert police officers Rishpal Singh, Jasbir and Parminder Singh managed to foil the attack. He added that Narain Singh has a criminal record, and they have registered a case and the incident is probed from all angles. He also appealed to people to maintain peace.