Mumbai: The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party boycotted the proceedings of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and conducted a ‘parallel session’ outside Vidhan Bhavan here Tuesday to protest against the suspension of 12 of its MLAs by the Speaker.
Claiming that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government was attempting to ‘silence’ the opposition and the media, Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis launched a scathing attack on it, accusing it of corruption, utter mismanagement, absence of confidence, and blaming the Centre for all its inefficiencies.
Inside the House, several ruling alliance members said the ‘parallel session’ held by the BJP was “illegal and an insult to the House” and demanded that it should be stopped at once.
Minority Development Minister Nawab Malik of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Presiding Officer Bhaskar Jadhav (Shiv Sena), who had suspended the MLAs on Monday, sought to know whether the BJP legislators had been given permission to use microphones for their ‘parallel session’.
Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal said that the legislature secretariat had not given any such permission, following which Jadhav directed that the mikes be disconnected.
Jadhav and several other MVA members demanded action against those who had organised the ‘parallel session’ and also those who allowed the BJP to conduct it.
Malik pointed out that Jadhav, who was manhandled and allegedly abused by the BJP legislators, had been getting threats and should be given security. The demand was supported by the Sena’s Sunil Prabhu.
Outside, at the ‘parallel session’ in the Vidhan Bhavan precincts, the BJP legislators ‘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 MLAs to voice their views, which the government was trying to suppress in an undemocratic manner, and vowed that their agitation would continue.
The ongoing two-day Monsoon Session of the Maharashtra Assembly has been rocked by pandemonium, with a belligerent opposition taking on the MVA allies Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress both inside the House and outside.
IANS
