BJP complains to Koshyari against govt's decision to hold 2-day monsoon session

The opposition BJP on Wednesday met Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to complain against the state governments decision to hold the monsoon session of the legislature for two days next month which he said was taken with the sole intention to avoid uncomfortable questions from the Opposition on various issuesSpeaking to reporters Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis also said the BJP also requested the governor to postpone the next months elections to five Zilla Parishads and bypolls to the seats in 33 Panchayat Samitis that were rendered vacant and converted into general category following the Supreme Courts verdict of quashing OBC reservation in local bodesHe alleged the state government was purposely delaying the election to the post of the state Assembly Speaker in the violation of norms Fadnavis alleged the Maha Vikas Aghadi government is selectively using Covid19 pandemic to save its skin By keeping the duration of the session too short the government is running away from democratic procedures where it will have to face questions from Opposition partiesAt the same time this government has decided to hold byeelections in several local governing bodies If the Covid19 situation is still serious then how can political parties hold its rallies and campaign for candidates It is absolutely wrong for the state government to hold the monsoon session for such a short period We requested the governor to look into it he said In the same vein Fadnavis said the post of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker has been lying vacant since February Not holding the election for this post is against the constitutional normsThe governor had already written a letter to the state government asking it to hold the speakers election It is obligatory for the state to hold the election the former chief minister said Fadnavis said many MLAs in the Maha Vikas Aghadi are not happy with the performance of the state government ldquoNot holding the Speakers election amounts to the breakdown of the constitutional mechanism which is not acceptable to usWe requested the Governor to point out this crisis to President as the state is not fulfilling its constitutional responsibilitiesrdquo he said adding It seems the government fears that if it holds the election for the Speakers post it might suffer embarrassment from its own MLAs and is thus delaying the election On the issue of farmers Fadnavis said the erstwhile BJP government in Maharashtra had distributed Rs 750 crore to cultivators and milk producersWe had stabilised the milk procurement rate at Rs 25 per litre Today milk is procured at Rs 15 or Rs 16 per litre It is disastrous for farmersrdquo he said He also slammed the Uddhav Thackeray government over the March 4 verdict of the Supreme Court quashing quota for OBCs in local bodies in Maharashtra This governments inaction for the last 15 months resulted into the Supreme Court reading down the previous state governments decision to offer reservation for OBCs in local bodies This means OBCs are left with no political reservation in the state he saidFadnavis said the state government had earlier agreed not to hold elections to local bodies until the reservation is restored to OBCs The government had even made an announcement to this effect However the decision was reversed within a day and now elections are going to be held for the vacant seatsrdquo he said Maharashtra relief and rehabilitation minister Vijay Wadettiwar had recently said that elections to local bodies will not be held However the state election commission on Tuesday announced the schedule for elections to five Zilla Parishad and bypolls to seats rendered vacant in Panchayat Samitis following quashing of the OBC quota by the top court on July 19 ldquoWe requested the governor to postpone these elections as it means no political representation for OBCs If we political parties campaign it will cause the Covid19 to spread further This holding elections shows double standards of the state governmentrdquo he alleged ldquoMinisters in the state government who claim to protect the interests of OBCs should talk to the government and postpone the elections until the communities get political reservationsrdquo he saidFadnavis said he had discussed the issue with BJP state president Chandrakant Patil and BJP core committee We have decided to field only OBC candidates on these seats We will consider these seats as reserved for OBCs We will accept defeat but we will not field any candidate from other castes on these seatsrdquo he said adding that the BJP will stage chakka jam protests on June 26 across the stateThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever