Twelve BJP members suspended for 1 year after Maharashtra legislature ruckus

THE monsoon session of the legislative assembly in the western Indian state of Maharashtra started amid din on Monday (5) as the house suspended 12 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members for a year for abusing and manhandling the speaker in chair. Former chief minister and leader of the opposition Devendra Fadnavis, who was allegedly present when the ruckus took place inside a cabin, said the allegations were false. The suspended members met the governor later, seeking a reprieve.

“These are false allegations. A story is being created... no one from the BJP abused,” Fadnavis told the media. “For OBC (Other Backward Castes) reservations, we are ready to sacrifice more than 12 MLAs,” he said, referring to a key issue that his party is set to highlight in this session.

Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray (R) and Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Jadhav, BJP leaders blame each other

The opposition created an uproar in the house over the OBC issue and alleged that the speaker-in-chair, Bhaskar Jadhav, denied them enough time to speak. The matter escalated after the house was adjourned. “The opposition leaders came to my cabin and abused me using unparliamentary language in front of Devendra Fadnavis and senior leader Chandrakant Patil. Some leaders even manhandled me,” Jadhav later told the media.

The opposition alleged that Jadhav, who hails from the ruling Shiv Sena, also abused its leaders when they went to talk to him. Jadhav then reportedly asked Maharashtra’s parliamentary affairs minister to probe the issue.

The 12 members who were suspended include Sanjay Kute, Ashish Shelar, Abhimanyu Pawar, Parag Alavni, Girish Mahajan, Atul Bhatkalkar, Harish Pimpale, Vijay Kumar Rawal, Yogesh Sagar, Ram Satpute, Narayan Kuche and Kirtikumar Bangdia.

Nawab Malik, a leader of the Nationalist Congress Party, which is also in the state’s ruling coalition, posted a video on Twitter saying “this was how it all started”.

Shelar, one of the suspended legislators, accused the Sena-led government saying it was acting like the Taliban and condemned the suspension saying none of his party colleagues in the house had abused Jadhav.