The Maharashtra Assembly session descended into a mayhem when Opposition legislators demanded the resignation of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) minister Nawab Malik from the cabinet. Many of them walked out of the house and shouted slogans, calling Malik “Dawood’s middleman”.
Malik was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate for alleged money laundering and active involvement in “terror funding” in connection with 1999 land deal with don Dawood Ibrahim’s sister. The Bombay High Court will pronounce the verdict in the case on March 15.
The March 9 drama is not new for the Maharashtra assembly. From holding parallel assembly sessions by BJP leaders to catcalling Aaditya Thackeray, targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi on “black money” and an MVA member performing a ‘yoga asana’ during a protest on March 3 against Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari were all seen in the assembly.
According to a report in The Print, the reason for the increasing disorder in the assembly is due to the politics over BJP’s alleged use of central agencies against rivals, ever since actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, said political analyst Hemant Desai. “This budget session is turning out to be even more extreme than the previous one, and all important current issues concerning people are being ignored,” Desai told ThePrint.
Stormy Session
Governor Koshyari finished his address to the both Houses of the Assembly on March 3 in less than a minute and then walked out without even waiting for the national anthem thus opening the session on a controversial note.
BJP MLAs were seen shouting “Dawood agents” while ruling MVA members protested against the Governor for his comments on Chhatrapati Shivaji last month.
Koshyari said saint-poet Samarth Ramdas was Shivaji’s teacher, which riled MVA leaders who have called it a distortion of history.
NCP leader Sanjay Daund performed a ‘sheeshasan’, saying Governor’s head is where his feet should be.
Besides passing a bill to delay elections in the state till political quota for Other Backward Classes is restored, the House did not see much of a business.
Meanwhile, a plea has been filed in the Supreme Court questioning change in rules of electing a Speaker and Deputy Speaker in the Maharashtra Assembly.
The petition filed by BJP MP Girish Dattatraya Mahajan claimed the order gave arbitrary power to the chief minister to decide the date for the election of the Speaker. However, according to old rules, the Governor fixed a date for the election of Speaker.
The budget session of the Maharashtra legislature will continue till March 25 in Mumbai.
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