Highlights
- Chaos ensued outside Mumbai Vidhan Bhavan on Wednesday.
- MLAs from ruling and opposition clashed outside the premises.
- Both sides were raising slogans against each other.
Maharashtra news: Chaos ensued outside Mumbai Vidhan Bhavan on Wednesday after MLAs from ruling and opposition clashed outside the premises. The clash broke out as opposition MLAs supporting the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA faction were protesting against the government. This is when they got into a war of words with the Eknath Shinde-faction MLAs and a scuffle broke out.
Both sides were raising slogans against each other. The opposition side also included Aaditya Thackeray, Ajit Pawar and Balasaheb Thorat. This is when opposition NCP MLA Amol Matkari got into a fight with ruling MLA Dilip Mama Lande. As per reports, NCP leader Anil Patil also provoked the ruling MLAs.
Meanwhile, CM Eknath Shinde also spoke at the Maharashtra Assembly today. Answering a question raised by BJP member Sunil Rane on some rivers flooding earlier than expected and causing major damages, Shinde said he would form a comprehensive policy for desilting rivers in the state to prevent floods.
Earlier, legislators of the ruling BJP and those from the Shinde faction staged a protest in the Vidhan Bhavan premises targeting former CM Uddhav Thackeray and his son Aaditya Thackeray. They carried banners with messages alleging corruption in the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and claimed the Thackerays compromised Hindutva for power.
Some of the banners carried the message: "Raja stayed indoors due to fear of COVID-19 while friends of the yuvraj looted the treasury." The MLAs also shouted slogans like "standing committee che khoke...Matoshree okay," alleging corruption in the BMC with the support of Thackerays. 'Matoshree' is the residence of Uddhav Thackeray in suburban Bandra.
Standing committee is the governing body of the BMC, where the elections are due. Bharat Gogawale, the MLA from the Shinde camp, told reporters that the opposition legislators need not have come near them when they were staging the protest. "They started arguing first. When they protested all these days, we did not interfere," he said.
Members from both sides kept shouting slogans against each other for some more time and then went into the House to attend the day's proceedings. The state legislature's monsoon session will conclude on Thursday.
Shinde and 39 other Shiv Sena legislators had revolted against the party leadership in June this year, which led to the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led government comprising the Sena, NCP and Congress. On June 30, Shinde was sworn in as the chief minister along with BJP's Devendra Fadnavis as his deputy.
