The Maharashtra Assembly today revoked the suspension of ten more opposition MLAs who had been barred from attending the House proceedings for the rest of the year for creating ruckus during the Budget presentation last month.
A total of 19 opposition MLAs, 10 from the NCP and nine from the Congress, were suspended on March 22 till the end of the year.
Barred from attending the House, their entry to the legislature premises in Mumbai as well as Nagpur had been restricted. The winter session of the state assembly is held at its Nagpur premises.
The suspension of other nine members had been revoked on April 1.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Girish Bapat today moved a resolution for revocation of the suspension of the remaining 10 MLAs and it was adopted by the House.
The ten members who will be able to return to the House now are: Amar Kale, Vijay Wadettiwar, Kunal Patil, Jaykumar Gore, Harshwardhan Sapkal (all from Congress) besides Bhaskar Jadhav, Madhusudhan Kendre, Jitendra Awhad, Rahul Jagtap and Sangram Jagtap of the NCP.
Bapat said the government wished to ensure smooth functioning of the House and hence revoked the suspension of the members suo moto.
He, however, said, "The government's action was not met with a favourable response from the Opposition which continued to boycott proceedings of the House."
"But the government is large-hearted and wants smooth functioning of the House in an amicable atmosphere," the minister said.
He said the members were suspended not for raising the demand for farm loan waiver but following a disciplinary action against their unruly behaviour.
"It had lowered the dignity of the House," he said adding the government too was committed to the debt waiver.
Ever since the Budget session began last month, the Opposition has been in protest mode, demanding immediate loan waiver by the government for the state's distressed farmers who are facing problems due to drought, unseasonal rains and lack of good market price for their agriculture produce.
The Opposition had disrupted the House proceedings on March 18 during the Budget presentation, displaying banners while Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar was making the Budget speech.
They also sang bhajans, played cymbals, raised slogans and later burnt copies of the Budget outside the House.
Many of the Opposition MLAs and leaders are now on a 'Sangharsh Yatra' around the state against the government's
Alleged apathy towards the farmers' plight.
The nine legislators whose suspension was revoked in the beginning of this month included Sangram Topte, Abdul Sattar, Amit Zanak, DP Sawant (Congress) and Nahari Jirwal, Deepak Chavan, Dattatrey Bharne, Avdhut Tatkare and Vaibhav Pichad (NCP).
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