Opposition gives notice of no-confidence against Maharashtra assembly speaker

MUMBAI: The opposition on Monday gave notice of a no-confidence motion against the speaker of the state assembly Haribhau Bagde accusing him of silencing the opposition and favouring the government. The notice was signed by leaders of the Congress, NCP and PWP. A decision on whether to admit the notice has to be taken in two weeks.
Their move came shortly after both the state assembly and council were adjourned for the day after functioning for just barely two hours. In the assembly, the adjournment came after the opposition agreed to participate in a probe committee on an audio CD linked to NCP leader Dhananjay Munde. The motion to thank the governor for his address was passed without debate or the chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’s reply.

“The government does not want the assembly to function and the speaker is aiding this with repeated adjournments. The rights of the opposition to speak and debate are not protected. He is not following the rules of procedure,’” said Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil.

“Is this democracy or the murder of democracy? We wanted to discuss key issues like the loan waiver, and compensation for farmers affected by the pink bollworm and hailstorms but were not allowed to speak or debate the governor’s address,” said NCP leader Ajit Pawar. He said that even when Fadnavis was speaking, Bagde did not try and stop the ruling party’s sloganeering against Munde.

Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan said the opposition was not allowed to question the government regarding the governor’s address. However, industries minister Subhash Desai was allowed to make a statement on the Konkan refinery even though this issue had not come up for discussion in the assembly. “This is another example of bias,” said Chavan.