Maha Council adjourned, Govt objects to Opposition’s “nautanki” barb
Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. (Express Photo by Prashant Nadkar/Files) Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. (Express Photo by Prashant Nadkar/Files)
The Upper House of the state legislature was adjourned for the day amid heated arguments between the government and opposition. The Leader of the Government in the House Chandrakant Patil objected to the word “nautanki” used by the Leader of Opposition Dhananjay Munde to describe the government’s farm loan waiver process.
Earlier the Chairman of the House Ramraje Nimbalkar rejected the demand of around 10-15 MLCs including Munde to have a discussion on the farmers’ issues. The chairman however allowed Munde to speak for two minutes. Munde demanded a discussion on several issues including loan waiver implementation, crops damaged in pink-worm attacks, the remunerative price for the crops, arbitrary recovery of electricity bills and loss brought about by cyclone Ockhi.
He alleged that during the NCP’s “halla bol” march from Yavatmal to Nagpur, not a single farmer the party met had his waived loan amount deposited in his account. He cited the example of Gyaneshwar Bankat Rathod, a farmer from Katol, who Munde said had received a court notice from a bank for loan recovery. He further gave the example of Vishnu Dhumne, a farmer whom chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had met during the latter’s Yavatmal visit.
Mundle said that Dhumne is still waiting for an SMS from the government for the last four months to notify him that his loan had been waived. He demanded that the government place in the House the list of farmers whose loans have been waived off. “This “natak nautanki” by the government has now come out in the open,” Munde said.
The house was adjourned for ten minutes after Munde demanded a discussion on the loss faced by cotton growers of Vidarbha, Marathwada and Northern Maharashtra due to attacks on their crops by bollworms. However, when the house resumed after the adjournment, the Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council Patil objected over the use of word “nautanki” terming it as inappropriate and demanded its removal from the House records.
Chairman Nimbalkar replied that he would do so if he found the word inappropriate. Further, Patil said that the government would discuss the issues raised by the opposition in the days to come. He added that the CM had already given the figures of the loan distribution in a press conference yesterday. Amid heated arguments, the chairman, at 1:33pm, adjourned the House for the day.
Earlier in the day, the Upper House commenced at 12 noon with the chairman announcing the resignation of former Congress leader Narayan Rane from the House. Newly elected MLC Prasad Lad took the oath of the House. Tributes were paid by way of a one-minute silence to former MLA Adv Sharad Sonu Wani who passed away May 26 in Jalgaon.
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