MLAs protest outside the Maharashtra legislative Assembly in Mumbai on Wednesday. (Express Photo: Ganesh Shirsekar)Mumbai News Today Live (August 25): Protests by the Opposition continued outside the Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai during the first Maharashtra Assembly since the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led government came into power. On Wednesday, legislators of both ruling and Opposition sides had come to blows on the staircase of Maharashtra legislature. While NCP MLC Amol Mitkari alleged MLA Mahesh Shinde attacked him, chief whip of Eknath Shinde faction and Mahad MLA Bharat Gogawale added fat to fire by claiming they were the ones to have manhandled Opposition members.
Meanwhile, the Congress has continued with its attack against Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) during the tenure of its Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partner, Shiv Sena. Congress leader Milind Deora demanded a CBI probe into BMC’s expenditure on the roads department in the past five years.
In other news, the Maharashtra government is receiving a lot of flak from the education sector for its recent decision to provide midday meals only to students with Aadhaar cards even as it has given until the year-end for schools to complete the process.
Opposition MLAs in the state assembly questioned the information provided about malnutrition deaths by the Maharashtra Tribal Welfare department on Wednesdy. Today opposition MLAs walked out of the state assembly to protest against malnutrition deaths in the state.
A senior official of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has expressed the need to control tourist footfall at the world famous Ajanta caves in Maharashtra to preserve its paintings for a longer time.
The popular UNESCO world heritage site, comprising 30 rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments, is located about 100 km from the Aurangabad district headquarters. The caves have paintings depicting the life of Gautam Buddha. (PTI)
A Nationalist Congress Party leader was arrested in connection with the death of a 'govinda' at a Janmashtami function organised last week in Vile Parle in the western part of Mumbai, a police official said.
NCP district president Riyaz Sheikh (36) was held on Tuesday, the Vile Parle police station official said. (PTI)
Legislators of the Shiv Sena faction of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde targeted former minister Aaditya Thackeray by displaying a banner against him on the steps of the Vidhan Bhavan.
Aaditya Thackeray countered them by shouting a slogan implying that MLAs of the Shinde faction got money to switch loyalty, which had resulted in the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led government comprising the Sena, NCP and Congress.
Legislators from the Shinde faction carried banners with the message: "Yuvrajanchi disha chukli" (the prince missed his path) on the steps of the Vidhan Bhavan where the state legislature session is currently underway.
On the other side, Aaditya Thackeray and some legislators of the Congress and NCP shouted slogans demanding that a "wet drought" be declared in Maharashtra to provide relief to farmers who lost their standing crops in the recent heavy rains and floods.
Aaditya Thackeray was also seen shouting the slogan "50 khoke...chidle boke" (50 boxes...angry cats), implying that 50 MLAs got money to revolt against the party led by his father Uddhav Thackeray. (PTI)
The Speaker of Maharashtra's lower house instructed the government to immediately lift the stay on hawker's policy imposed by the previous government and allocate pitches to eligible hawkers and shift them to designated hawking zones. (ANI)
BJP MLC Pravin Darekar has been appointed as the group leader of BJP in the Legislative council by Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Darekar was the leader of the opposition in the legislative council in MVA's tenure.
A committee will be formed to build a new statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj within the premises of the Maharashtra legislature, Assembly speaker Rahul Narvekar announced.
Mumbai University students staged a protest on Thursday, demanding justice for the nine-year-old Dalit boy who died in Rajasthan's Jalore district.
The FIR in the case, registered after Indra Kumar Meghwal’s death, says that on July 20, the child was beaten up by his upper-caste teacher for allegedly drinking water from a pot meant for the teacher.
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As the Opposition continued protesting outside the Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai during the ongoing session of the legislature, Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray said they will not stop demanding the resignation of rebel MLAs.
"We will not stop demanding resignation gaddar (traitor) MLAs. Try how much you want but we will not stop exposing you. I too will resign if these 40 MLAs resign and let the people decide our fate. Those (rebel MLAs) who have not got cabinet berths are attacking me in a hope that they will get it in next cabinet expansion," Thackeray said.