Maharashtra Budget Session: Furore over Sanjay Raut’s ‘chormandal’ remark

Sanjay Raut leader of the Thackeray Sena faces a breach of privilege motion for calling the state legislature a house of thieves BJP and Shinde Sena members demanded his immediate arrestThe Rajya Sabha MP while talking to reporters in Kolhapur earlier in the day allegedly called the ldquovidhimandalrdquo legislature a ldquochormandalrdquo a house of thieves triggering uproar in the AssemblyIn the Lower house BJPrsquos Atul Bhatkhalkar and Shinde Senarsquos Bharat Gogawale moved a motion against Raut and the treasury benches demanded action against him for insulting the august houseBhatkhalkar demanded that the privilege committee of the house be sent the notice for inquiry on Wednesday itself and the matter be decided before the end of the budget sessionDemand for his arrestMembers of the Shinde Sena demanded Rautrsquos arrest and asked the MP to resign ldquobecause we all voted to send him to the Rajya SabhardquoAlso Read Lower house adjourned after Rauts chormandal remark rocks Maharashtra assemblyThe situation in the Upper house was no different BJP members Ram Shinde and Pravin Darekar submitted their motion to the chairman demanding the immediate arrest of Raut Chairperson Neelam Gorhe refused to issue any such orders saying that she would first verify the allegationThe matter disrupted the proceedings of both the houses repeatedly leading to several adjournments amid slogan shouting The dayrsquos business could be carried out for only a couple of hours The houses will reconvene on ThursdaylsquoAct against Shinde toorsquoSensing the seriousness of the matter senior Opposition leaders in the Assembly asked that the allegations be verified while some of them also demanded similar action against Chief Minister Eknath Shinde for calling them lsquorashtradohirsquo antinationalNCPrsquos Ajit Pawar the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly said that no one had the right to call legislators thieves ldquoIf this has been said we must verify the truth of the matter and then the house can take necessary action against the people involvedrdquoCongress leader Nana Patole wanted the house not to waste any more time on the discussion and instead leave the matter to the speaker because the chair has the powers to take suo motu cognisanceDecision on March 8Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar allowed both sides to speak and then admitted the motion The privilege committee was formed late Wednesday evening It will process the matter and the Speaker will announce his decision on March 8In the Legislative Council Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis said such remarks were unbearable and if ldquowe were to allow it then it is even more seriousrdquo ldquoRautrsquos leader Uddhav Thackeray is also a member of the legislature Will Raut also call him a thiefrdquo he askedldquoIf nothing was done then there would be hundreds of Sanjay Rauts making such insulting remarks against the lawmaking bodyrdquo he addedlsquoSee the context firstrsquoOpposition leader in the Council Ambadas Danve of the Thackeray faction asked chairperson Gorhe to understand the context of the remarks and the situation in which they were made He wanted to convey that the remarks were aimed at the Shinde faction not the entire legislatureRaut said ldquoI will face the action Why not I am not afraid Irsquom not a thief I represent Balasaheb and Uddhav Thackerayrsquos Shiv Sena I have even been to jail without any fearrdquoThe punishment for the breach of privilege ranges from a warning to imprisonment The matter is referred to the privilege committee of the respective house for investigation and recommending action