The opposition targeted the MVA government over its refusal to seek state minister Nawab Malik's resignation
BJP MLAs protest on the steps of Vidhan Bhavan for OBC reservation. Pic/Suresh Karkera
Noisy scenes were witnessed in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Friday as the opposition BJP targeted the MVA government over its refusal to seek state minister Nawab Malik's resignation and blamed it for the Supreme Court's rejection of the interim report of a panel on political quota for Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
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The House was adjourned for the day after BJP members and leaders of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) indulged in slogan-shouting against each other over the two issues. Before being adjourned for the day, the Assembly saw two adjournments.
The Supreme Court on Thursday said it is "not possible" to permit any authority to act upon the recommendation made in the interim report of the state Backward Classes Commission, which has said that up to 27 per cent reservation can be granted to the OBCs in the local bodies in Maharashtra, subject to the condition that the total quota shall not exceed 50 per cent limit.
As soon as the Lower House assembled on Friday, Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis raised the OBC quota issue through an adjournment notice.
The former chief minister demanded that the issue be taken up for discussion and the rest of the business be set aside.
He said there should be no election to local bodies in the state till the political quota of the OBCs is restored.
Fadnavis termed as "mockery" the interim report of the commission, which was rejected by the apex court.
"The report has no date about when the data was collected and does not carry any signatures. The state's lawyers failed to explain on what basis the 27 per cent quota has been recommended," he said.
In the coming days, two third local bodies of the state will have to go to polls and if the elections take place without the OBC quota, the community will not get any representation, he added.
"What happened in the Supreme Court was shameful for Maharashtra," Fadnavis said, and demanded that the state enact a law, which will allow it to fix the dates of local bodies elections.
Maharashtra Food and Civil Supplies Minister and prominent OBC leader, Chhagan Bhujbal, admitted that there could be some technical mistakes in the report since it was compiled expeditiously.
In 2010, the apex court had asked for compilation of empirical data regarding information of political backwardness of the OBCs.
The UPA government had started the process of collecting the data which was submitted in 2016, but the Modi dispensation did not share the data with the state, he said.
"Even Fadnavis, who was state chief minister for five years, did not do anything on that front," Bhujbal alleged.
"Neither you nor the Modi government took any further steps and now you are blaming us," he said while accusing Fadnavis of indulging in politics.
After Bhujbal's statement, Zirwal said he was rejecting the adjournment notice and called for the question hour. But the BJP legislators started shouting slogans, following which the House was adjourned for 20 minutes. But when the proceedings resumed after that, the slogan-shouting continued, due to which it was adjourned for the second time till the end of the question hour.
When the House met again, BJP legislators rushed to the well shouting slogans against the MVA government, while the treasury benches retorted with slogans against the Centre.
Shiv Sena legislator Ravindra Waikar initiated a discussion on the state Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari's address to the joint sitting of the stat legislature and criticised him for reading out the first and last paragraphs of his speech and leaving midway.
"He did not even stop when the national anthem was played," he said.
However, Waikar later stopped his speech saying that he cannot speak amid pandemonium. The BJP MLAs raised slogans against the government demanding the resignation of Nawab Malik, who was arrested by the Enfocement Directorate (ED) last week. The chair asked for introduction of bills and adjourned the House for the day after rushing through the rest of the business.
The first day of the Maharashtra legislature's budget session on Thursday witnessed unprecedented chaos as the governor left the Vidhan Bhavan's Central Hall without completing his address to the joint session of both the Houses amid slogan-shouting by legislators.
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