Ugly scenes were witnessed at the entrance of the Vidhan Bhavan on Wednesday, as the MLAs belonging to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s camp virtually clashed with some Opposition NCP MLAs while trying to snatch away carrots that the latter were carrying inside to taunt the ruling alliance MLAs on the floor of the State Assembly.
Nearly two months after the massive rebellion within the Shiv Sena led to the change in government in Maharashtra, the MLAs from the Shinde faction first raised slogans against the Opposition. Later, they jostled with one another and also exchanged mild fist blows.
The trouble began began after the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) MLAs, most of them being NCP legislators, raised slogans against the MLAs belonging to the Shinde faction but they also dubbed the latter as as ‘gaddars’ (traitors) and ’50 khoke’ (Rs.50 crore).
Upset by the accusations of the Opposition, the Shinde faction MLAs tried to snatch away the carrots the Opposition legislators were carrying inside the House ahead of the start of the fourth day proceedings of the ongoing monsoon session of the state Legislature.
At one stage, Shinde faction MLA Dilip Lande and NCP legislator Amol Mitkari exchanged mild blows and lunged at each other, before others present intervened and separated them.
Not to be outdone, the Shinde faction MLAs were seen trying to shout down NCP MLAs with counter slogans like: “(Sachin) Vaze-BMC Khoke, Matoshri, Shiv Sena Ok”, “Lavasa Khoke, Baramati Ok”
The friction between the Shinde faction and NCP MLAs broke out a day after Shinde warned the Opposition that “he could expose records of those targeting him and his group” of rebel Shiv Sena MLAs”.
It may be recalled that Shinde and 39 other Shiv Sena MLAs had revolted against Sena president Uddhav Thackeray resulting in a vertical split in the parent Sena. The rebellion engineered within the Shiv Sena led by Shinde had led to the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led government comprising the Sena, NCP and Congress. On June 30, Shinde and BJP's Devendra Fadnavis were sworn in as the chief minister and deputy chief minister respectively.
On his part, leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Ajit Pawar hit out at the chief minister saying that the latter’s warning amounted to a virtual threat handed to the Opposition.