The Maharashtra legislature plunged into turmoil over the arrest of former Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal in the money laundering case, with the Opposition creating ruckus in both the Houses accusing the BJP-led saffron alliance Government of having indulged an act of political vendetta against the senior NCP leader.
On a day Bhujbal’s arrest sparked protests by the NCP workers in different parts of Mumbai and in his home district of Nashik in north Maharashtra, the Opposition Congress and NCP forced four noisy adjournments in the State Assembly over the NCP leader’s arrest before staging a walk-out from the House, while the State legislative Council witnessed three adjournments over the issues. As a result, both the Houses did not transact any business during the day.
Sixty-eight-year-old Bhujbal, who was arrested by the ED on Monday night after 10-hour-long questioning in connection with two money laundering cases registered against him and others, was produced before the special Prevention of Money laundering Act (PMlA) court, which remanded in the agency’s custody till March 17.
As was expected, the Opposition Congress and NCP trained their guns both outside and inside the State legislature. Staging protests at the entrance of Vidhan Bhavan, the Opposition legislators raised slogans against the BJP-led saffron alliance Government like “Nahi chalegi, nahi chalegi, Dadagiri nahi chalegi”, “Phule Ambedkar Vicharavar gala galanya sarkarala dikar aso” (Down with the Government that indulges in attack on Phule and Ambedkar ideologies) and “Aayegi Aayegi Hamari Bari Aayegi”.
There was a noisy backlash of Bhujbal’s arrest in both the Houses of the legislature. Dubbing the arrest as the “premeditated”, senior NCP leader Jayant Patil alleged that the ruling BJP had “misused” the ED to frame in the money laundering case. leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil of the Congress came to Bhujbal’s defence, saying that the NCP leader’s arrest smacked of “political vendetta”.
Dismissing the Opposition’s allegation that Bhujbal’s arrest was an act of political vendetta, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that the ED had acted against the NCP leader on the basis of “concrete proof” and that the State Government had nothing to do with the action initiated by the Central investigating agency.
Exhorting the Opposition not to make use of the State legislature to mount pressure on the investigating agency, Fadnavis said that his Government would not support any effort to suppress the ongoing investigations into the money laundering scam being investigated by the ED.
The day’s proceedings began in the State Assembly on a stormy note with senior NCP leader Jayant Patil seeking to move a notice for suspension of question to facilitate a full-discussion on Bhujbal’s arrest. He said that Bhujbal’s arrest appeared to be a premeditated move, given that much before the actual arrest of Bhujbal, a BJP MP ( Kirit Somaiya) had gone on record much that the NCP leader would be taken into custody by the ED.
"Bhujbal is a member of this House. Had he been arrested on the basis of a court order, we would have understood. Bhujbal has been arrested by the ED, despite his assured the agency that he would co-operate with in the investigations," Jayant Patil said. leader of the Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil supported Jayant Patil's demand for suspension of the question hour to pave way for a discussion on Bhujbal's arrest.
However, Speaker Haribahu Bagde rejected the NCP's notice for suspension of question hour. Following a directive from the chair, the chief minister made a statement on the issue, denying that there was any political motive behind Bhujbal's arrest.
The Assembly witnessed as many as four adjournments on the issue, before the Opposition staged a walk out from the House.
In the Upper House, leader of the Opposition Dhananjay Munde of the NCP sought the suspension of the question to facilitate a debate on Bhujbal's arrest - a demand that Council Chairman Ramraje Nimbalkar rejected saying that he would consider the demand after the question hour. The chair's reply sparked vociferous protests by the Opposition members, leading to an adjournment for 30 minutes. Subsequently, there were two more adjournments, before the chair adjourned the Upper House for the day.
Meanwhile, the NCP workers blocked the busy Mumbai-Agra National Highway in Nashik district and staged "rasta rokos" in Nashik city and towns like Yeola, Nandgaon and Manmad in protest against Bhujbal's arrest. They blocked the highway near Ojhar, 2o kms from Nashik.
In a related development, the police detained more than 200 NCP activists after they staged "rasta rokos" in the suburbs of Mumbai like Bhandup, Vikhroli, Deonar, Goregaon, Worli, Bandra, Kurar and Chembur.