The acrimony between the Opposition and ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi over the suspension of 12 BJP MLAs from the State Assembly spilled over to the second and final day of the monsoon session on Tuesday, as Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray castigated the Opposition by saying the ruckus that took place in the House on Monday was a “blot” on the rich political traditions of the state and BJP MLAs boycotted the proceedings and held a mock “parallel” Assembly session” outside the Vidhan Bhavan.
Talking to media persons at the end of a two-day monsoon session of the Maharashtra Legislature here, the Chief Minister said: “Irrespective of what one may say, but whatever that happened inside the State Assembly yesterday was a blot on the political traditions of Maharashtra”.
“This is definitely not our culture. While we as elected representatives should be upgrading the standard of proceedings in the House, the Opposition’s conduct brought down the standards of the proceedings in the House,” Uddhav said.
As many as 12 BJP MLAs were suspended from the Maharashtra Assembly on Monday for a period of one year “abusing” and “misbehaving” with the presiding officer inside and outside the House.
The suspension of the 12 MLAs came after the Opposition created a ruckus over the OBC reservations issue and alleged that Speaker-in-Chair Bhaskar Jadhav did not give them enough time to speak.
When the ruckus took place in the State Assembly, Bhaskar Jadhav of the Shiv Sena was presiding over the proceedings in the House in the absence of Nana Patole who had resigned from the post in February this year. The election to replace Patole in the post has not taken place yet.
Uddhav— who was accompanied by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar of the NCP and Balasaheb Thorat of the Congress at the post-monsoon session news conference— said: “People expect different things from their elected representatives. People vote for us and elect us in the hope that we will change their lives. But, whatever we saw yesterday inside the Assembly, made us hang our heads in shame. It was a responsible Opposition that brought the standards of the House down. We had no role to play in whatever happened”.
“We moved a resolution on the reservations for OBCs and Maratha community. The Opposition need not have to agree with us. In a democracy like ours, the Opposition leaders enjoy the right to express their views. But, creating ruckus, breaking the mike and snatching the mace lying in front of the Speaker’s table is definitely of democracy”.
Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar also hit out at the Opposition over its “unruly” behaviour inside the House and also in the chamber of the deputy speaker where the BJP MLAs “abused” and “misbehaved” with Speaker-in-Chair Bhaskar Jadhav. “After seeing the video clips of what happened yesterday, we feel like hanging our heads in shame,” Pawar said, as he came down heavily on the Opposition BJP for its questionable behaviour.
Meanwhile, the Opposition BJP on Tuesday staged a protest against the suspension of 12 BJP MLAs by boycotting the Assembly proceedings on Monday and holding a “mock parallel” Assembly session outside the Vidhan Bhavan.
Leading the attack against the Uddhav Thackeray-led dispensation in the state, leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis accused the MVA government of corruption and mal-governance.
At the mock ‘parallel session’ of the State Assembly held outside the Vidhan Bhavan, the Opposition BJP MLAs ‘elected’ their senior colleague Kalidas Kolamkar to chair the proceedings and raised slogans condemning the MVA Government.
Addressing the gathering, Fadnavis claimed that the ‘parallel session’ was convened to enable the Opposition legislators to voice their views which the government was trying to suppress in an undemocratic manner, and vowed that their agitation would continue.
Inside the State Assembly, the ruling MVa MLAs dubbed the mock ‘parallel session’ of the House held by the BJP as “illegal and an insult of the House” and demanded that it should be stopped immediately.
Nationalist Congress Party Minister Nawab Malik and Presiding Officer Bhaskar Jadhav wanted to know whether the BJP legislators had been given permission to use the microphones for their ‘parallel session.’ The Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal said that the legislature secretariat had not given such permission after which Jadhav directed that the mikes should be disconnected.
Jadhav and several MVA members demanded action against those who organized the ‘parallel session’ and also those who allowed the BJP to conduct it.
Malik alleged that Jadhav, who was manhandled and allegedly abused by the BJP legislators, was getting threats and should be given security protection. Shiv Sena’s Sunil Prabhu supported Malik’s demand.