Amid opposition BJP’s strategy to target the state government during the budget session, the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress on Wednesday decided to put up a united front to counter the former by adopting ‘’offence is the best defence’’ policy. Undeterred by BJP’s announcement to aggressively take up issues with regard to corruption, scams, alleged underworld links and government’s inability to restore OBC and Maratha quotas, the MVA partners at the state cabinet and later at the meeting of the alliance decided to strongly counter BJP by not giving it any political mileage ahead of the upcoming BMC elections.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who is recovering from the spine surgery, is expected to lead BJP’s attack from the front in the state legislature during the budget session beginning Thursday, Thackeray has already lashed out at BJP with regard to the deployment of central probe agencies in the state saying that ‘’attempts to gain power by persecuting the Opposition were undemocratic and perverse. There are raids after raids, but remember that their turn will also come”.
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar claimed that the MVA government is in action mode and it is fully prepared to face opposition during the budget session. He said that had the opposition attended the customary tea meeting today the government would have held discussion on various issues in a cordial manner. However, the opposition boycotted the customary tea meeting.
Pawar said the government has already submitted its views on NCP Minister Nawab Malik’s arrest in the high court which is expected to hear the latter’s plea on Thursday. ‘’It is the Chief Minister’s prerogative to accept or deny the minister’s resignation. In West Bengal, the minister despite his arrest has not been excluded from the council of ministers,’’ he noted.
Pawar hoped that the Governor BS Koshyari would give his approval for holding the Speaker’s election which could not be held after Koshyari said the amendments to the business rule proposing election through voice vote instead of secret ballot was unconstitutional. ‘’The government has already dispatched the letter to the Governor and hopes that he will give his nod,’’ he noted. The Congress legislative party leader and Revenue Minister Balashaeb Thorat has hinted that the Speaker’s election may be held on March 9.
On state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil’s ultimatum that the MVA government will fall after March 7, Pawar said that ‘’Let us wait for another five days.’’
Pawar, who holds the finance and planning departments, said he would present the annual budget for 2022-23 on March 11.
