The parties also forced the State government to postpone the customary introduction of Pawar in the Assembly and boycotted the same in the Legislative Council.
Nagpur : Signalling a stormy start to the Winter Session of the State Assembly and pushing the State government to a corner, Opposition parties were not ready to accept the swearing-in ceremony of Ajit Pawar as Deputy Chief Minister lying down and questioned its constitutional validity. The parties also forced the State government to postpone the customary introduction of Pawar in the Assembly and boycotted the same in the Legislative Council.
Opposition MLAs protest on the first day of the Winter Session in Nagpur on Monday |
The State government which was caught unawares failed to answer the pointed query of Opposition whether the order of Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court terming the post of Deputy Chief Minister as unconstitutional was taken into consideration. After hearing both the sides, Speaker Dilip Walse Patil reserved his decision.
Leader of Opposition in Assembly Eknath Khadse raised the issue through a point of order. ” There is no post like Deputy Chief Minister in the Constitution. Aurangabad Bench of Bombay High Court has ruled that the post is unconstitutional and also made it clear that Deputy Chief Minister can be a title and not a post. “If Pawar was sworn in as a minister, we would not have had any objection, but he was instead sworn in as Deputy CM,” Khadse explained.
Much to the chagrin of ruling alliance, Home Minister R R Patil, embarrassed by the reference to one of his past comments, admitted that those remarks were a great mistake. “During my tenure as Deputy CM, the post was challenged in the Aurangabad Bench of Bombay High Court. The High Court ruled that the post is only political and not constitutional. I sought the legal opinion from the Law and Judiciary Department officials and the Advocate General. I was told that I can sign files only as a minister and not as the Deputy Chief Minister.” Patil’s frank statement indirectly helped the Opposition to put the government on the mat.
NCP MLA Nawab Malik, while defending Pawar, said, ‘ Governor is a custodian of the Constitution and an oath administered by him cannot be called as unconstitutional.”
Chhagan Bhujbal too came to the rescue of the ruling alliance by defending the swearing-in of Sharad Pawar’s nephew as Deputy CM.
But an aggressive Khadse hurled a pointed question and silenced everybody.
“Is the Aurangabad High Court ruling binding on the State government or not?,’ he asked.
Earlier the Opposition also took out a silent black flag procession to the State Legislature in the morning. Legislators from all Opposition parties – Shiv Sena, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena – carried placards and banners against the re-induction of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar as the Deputy Chief Minister.
The Opposition also plans to target several ministers of the ruling Congress-NCP coalition for their alleged involvement in various scams and irregularities.
Walk-out in Council
PTI ADDS: Meanwhile the Opposition parties in the Legislative Council staged a walkout protesting against appointment of Ajit Pawar as deputy CM, stating that it is not a constitutional post and his appointment was ‘illegal’.
As soon as the House assembled, Chairman Shivajirao Deshmukh took up the listed business that included appointment of Pawar as Leader of the House, but Leader of Opposition Vinod Tawde argued that ‘Deputy Chief Minister’ is not a constitutional post, and technically the very appointment of Ajit Pawar was illegal.
Joining the issue, Jayant Patil of Peasants and Workers Party too supported Tawde and demanded that the announcement of Leader of House be postponed, which received support from the entire Opposition bloc.
The Chairman later overruled the objections raised by the Opposition, citing the judgement of Aurangabad Bench of Bombay High Court in 1998 which had found the appointment of Deputy Chief Minister as legal.
However, unsatisfied with Chairman’s ruling, the entire Opposition trooped out of the House.
Pramod Chunchuwar
