Mumbai | The Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha Mandal building on Wednesday witnessed an unprecedented spate of scuffles and abuses between MLAs of the rebel Shiv Sena, a supporter of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
The pro-Shinde MLAs retaliated with full force when MVA members taunted the Shinde faction by calling them “traitors” and calling them “50 khokes” (Rs 50 crore).
On the fourth day of the monsoon session, some MLAs of the Shinde faction surrounded the MVA MLAs who were raising slogans against the government, after which there was a scuffle between the two sides.
Shinde faction MLA Dilip Lande and Nationalist Congress Party’s Amol Mitkari attacked each other. There was a scuffle between the two.
The MLAs of the Shinde faction also created a ruckus outside the House waving their own slogans and posters to counter the allegations of Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress.
MLAs of the Shinde group also retaliated by waving their own slogans and posters to protest the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress allegation, leading to an uproar outside the House.
A day earlier, Shinde had warned the opposition that he may expose the records of those who have been targeting him and his group of rebel Shiv Sena MLAs. On this, Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar reacted sharply and said that the opposition has been hurt by the CM’s statements.
The opposition on Wednesday called the Bharatiya Janata Party-backed Shinde government a “traitor”, “Rs 50 crore, very fine”, “tav vati, chao guwahati” (Take a bowl, go to Guwahati) and “ED whose mother, that government is useless”. harassed with slogans.
The MLAs of the Shinde faction replied, “BMC ok, Matoshree ok, (Sachin) waje khoke, Shiv Sena ok, Lavasa khoke, Baramati ok.”
Both MLA Mahesh Shinde and Mitkari have filed separate complaints against each other with CM Shinde and Speaker Rahul Narvekar, demanding a probe into the incident by examining the CCTV footage. It is said that even a woman journalist was pushed during the scuffle.
Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar, NCP state president Jayant Patil, Shiv Sena leader Kishore Tiwari, Congress’ Yashomati Thakur and other leaders of various parties accused the Shinde faction of trying to “crush democratic opposition and silence the opposition”.
“Our movement has gained momentum at 50 khokas. That’s why they reacted like this,” Pawar said gravely.
Jayant Patil said the entire country has witnessed the rude behavior of the MLAs of Shinde faction and voters will not forgive them, while Mitkari demanded to know whether the opposition MLAs would be ‘finished’.
Other MPs from Shinde faction, including Bharat Gogavale and Dilip Lande, said they were “Shiv Sainiks loyal to Balasaheb Thackeray” and they would not shy away from teaching a lesson to the opponents. There itself,
