Mumbai: Treasury benches are generally seen worried about the aggressive stand of the opposition ahead of assembly sessions. However, with the changed political equations after the rebellion in the NCP, the treasury benches have more than enough strength on their side and the opposition is seen under pressure on the eve of the monsoon session.
While the ruling alliance seems to be confident, the divided opposition has a challenge to make its presence felt and, if possible, corner the government over issues of public interest.
Ajit Pawar was the leader of opposition till the end of last month. He will be seen as deputy chief minister in charge of finance and planning in this session. This is a big blow to the opposition benches. According to sources, only about a dozen of NCP MLAs are still with Sharad Pawar and rest all have sided with Pawar, Jr.
Shinde government will have the support of over 200 MLAs
Similar is the case with the Shiv Sena (UBT). This also means that the Eknath Shinde government will have the support of over 200 MLAs in the legislative assembly, while the opposition will be left with 44 MLAs of the Congress, around 30 of the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the NCP and a couple of more from parties like the SP and the AIMIM. Ascertaining the exact number of members in support of and opposition to the government is expected to be the first thing that the speaker will have to do in the house even as the sitting arrangement too will have to be changed.
The second business expected to come up is the selection of leader of opposition. Since the post has gone vacant after Pawar, Jr joined the government and the split within the NCP, the Congress, with 44 members, is now the largest single party in the opposition. However, there are six leaders in the race for the post within the party and hence, the party is unlikely to claim the post soon. Unless the Congress stakes its claim, the post won’t be allotted to anyone and is likely to remain vacant till the end of the session.
Jitendra Awhad, Jayant Patil, Balasaheb Thorat, Nana Patole, Bhaskar Jadhav, Sunil Prabhu and Aditya Thackeray are the leaders in opposition in the lower house who will have to give a tough fight to the treasury benches to be able to make their point. Fortunately, all these leaders are expert in using parliamentary tools. Hence, some interesting debates are likely to be seen in the lower house.
Gorhe joining the Shinde camp has changed the political equations
In the upper house of the state legislature too, Deputy Chairperson Dr Neelam Gorhe’s joining the Shinde camp has changed the political equations on favour of the treasury benches. Moreover, after the split within the NCP, the BJP and allies have a strength of more than 30 in the house of 57 members. SC decision has also cleared the way for appointment of 12 governor nominated members. Hence, the session is likely to have the election for the post of Chairman of the state legislature in the upper house. If the post goes to NCP, there is a possibility that former Chairman Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar may get a chance once again. Nimbalkar is father-in-law of assembly Speaker Adv Rahul Narvekar.
With the majority in hand and the presiding officers on its side, the government will be able to get some stalled bills cleared in the upper house. With nine more ministers in the cabinet the load on the government to run the houses is expected to get divided giving a major relief to the ministers.
Stalled Kharif sowing due to delayed rains, relief not reaching the farmers, law and order situation especially the communal riots, attacks on women, and corruption charges in the BMC are likely to be the main issues over which the opposition is likely to tray to corner the government. Apart from these the issue of breaking the oppsition parties, corruption charges against some of the ministers too can bring the government under tension. On the other hand Fadnavis will be eager to reply the “kalank” comment of Uddhav Thackeray in the house.
