Maharashtra: Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders reluctant to take on Shinde-Fadnavis government

Mumbai: There has been disappointment in store for all those who were expecting a well-prepared opposition in the Assembly session. The fragile performance of the Maha Vikas Aghadi on the floor of the House in the first week of the budget session has shown zero coordination between parties and no preparation to corner the State Government. This, in fact, helped the Eknath Shinde- Devendra Fadnavis government in handling the legislative business. 

Opposition fails to corner Shinde-Fadnavis govt over onion price issue

On the first day itself, the opposition missed the chance to create a perception against the State Government over the onion price issue. An extremely sensitive opportunity that involved thousands of farmers was frittered away. The Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar raised the matter with support from Chhagan Bhujbal with BJP’s Rahul Aher joining the debate. However, the opposition failed to dig deeper. The question hour was called by the Speaker and senior leadership on opposition benches didn’t protest over it. 

No support from NCP and Sena(UBT) chiefs over Raut's remarks

In the following days, opposition leaders couldn’t decisively attack the government. Even in the breach of privilege controversy emanating from Sanjay Raut’s controversial remark against the legislative houses, there was no support from the NCP and Sena(UBT) chiefs. Uddhav Thackeray, however, aggressively supported Raut outside the house.

A former MVA minister said, “They just meet every morning to decide strategy but it does not reflect in the conduct of the house. Opposition members are not even going all out on Vidhan Bhavan steps. It shows that no leader is ready to take on the government right now.”

Budget session is primarily the reason why opposition members have been reluctant. A senior MLA in Congress said, “Every MLA from the opposition is facing discrimination in public works in his constituency. So instead of shouting more, they are trying to get work done through personal contacts. So nobody is ready to come out aggressively.”