New Delhi: It has now come to light that a day before rebel AAP MLA Kapil Mishra was marshalled out of the Delhi Assembly for depicting chief minister Arvind Kejriwal as a Balinese Python, a juvenile black-headed royal snake was lurking in one of the meeting rooms of the building on Monday.
The current Assembly building, designed by E. Montague Thomas in 1912, housed the Imperial Legislative Council until Parliament House came up in 1927. It is close to the forests of the northern ridge.
After two small snakes were found in the Assembly and a monkey disrupted proceedings by crossing the floor from the Opposition to the treasury benches, last August, a team from NGO Wildlife SOS had been put on standby.
The royal snake is a non venomous reptile protected under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
A release from the NGO said: "A juvenile black-headed royal snake was rescued by the Wildlife SOS Rapid Response Unit from the Delhi Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly). The young snake was kept under observation for a few hours and later released back into its natural habitat. The housekeeping staff at the Delhi Vidhan Sabha was left stunned on finding a snake in their midst. The reptilian visitor was spotted inside one of the meeting rooms and the matter was immediately reported to the Wildlife SOS team on their 24hr rescue helpline."
On Tuesday, Mishra was marshaled out for displaying a picture of AAP's MP-elect Sushil Gupta holding a python and chief minister Kejriwal's face-with his trademark muffler-was morphed on to the python's head.
Mishra received a defamation notice from Gupta earlier this month, after he alleged that Kejriwal had sold the Rajya Sabha seat to the former-Congress leader.
"When snake charmers are elected, it is no surprise that snakes will also enter the legislature. Today, I was marshalled out even though I had a band tied on my mouth, for just holding up a banner asking for a debate on the sale of Rajya Sabha seats," Mishra told The Telegraph.
Gupta said: "The image was clicked during a family vacation to Bali a few years back. I love all creatures. Even Lord Shiva has snakes around his neck. Mishra is not applying his own mind and says things at the behest of others."
Mishra has earlier faced barbs of being an " aastheen ka saanp" or serpent in one's bosom. after he rebelled against Kejriwal, last May, during an inner-party struggle between the centrists led by the chief minister and the rightists led by poet and orator Kumar Vishvas. But more than Mishra, Assembly marshals have their eyes peeled for a large snake that escaped in August.
