Maha Assembly Ruckus: 12 BJP MLAs Suspended for Abusing Speaker

BJP member and Leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis dismissed the alleged chaos by calling it 'false'.

Image of Maharashtra map & BJP symbol used for representational purposes.

(Photo: Shruti Mathur / The Quint) 

The monsoon session of the Maharashtra Assembly witnessed a ruckus on the day it commenced, as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs abused and manhandled the speaker-in-chair Bhaskar Jadhav on Monday, 5 July.

Twelve MLAs have been suspended by the House and the Assembly session was also adjourned following the ruckus. Maharashtra Minister Chhagan Bhujbal said that the incident has been captured on CCTV, reported ANI.

BJP member and Leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis dismissed the alleged chaos, calling it 'false'.

The government created the story of the incident and suspended our 12 MLAs. Our MLAs didn't abuse the Speaker in Chair. There were some heated arguments but our senior member Ashish Shelar on behalf of all MLAs apologised to Speaker in the Chair Bhaskar Jadhav," he said, adding that later the government came up with the plan to suspend BJP MLAs in order to reduce the party's numbers in the House.

Chaos ensued as BJP leaders, who are set to underline the issue of Other Backward Castes' (OBCs) reservations in this session, alleged Jadhav of not giving them enough time to speak. Visuals of leaders storming into Jadhav's office have emerged online.

Fadnavis addressed the press after the House was adjourned and said, "For OBC (Other Backward Castes) reservations, we are ready to sacrifice more than 12 MLAs."

What the Speaker in Chair Said

Speaking to the media, Jadhav said:

"The Opposition leaders came to my cabin and abused me using unparliamentary language in front of Devendra Fadnavis and senior leader Chandrakant Patil. Some leaders even manhandled me."

Speaker-in-chair Bhaskar Jadhav, as per NDTV

However, as per BJP, Jadhav also abused the ministers in his chamber.

Jadhav has asked the state's Parliamentary Affairs minister to probe the matter.

Who Are the MLAs Suspended?

As a consequence, a resolution suspending 12 BJP MLAs for a period of one year has been taken.

The following ministers have been suspended:

1. Sanjay Kute

2. Ashish Shelar

3. Abhimanyu Pawar

4. Girish Mahajan

5. Atul Bhatkalkar

6. Parag Alavni

7. Harish Pimpale

8. Ram Satpute

9. Jayakumar Rawal

10. Yogesh Sagar

11. Narayan Kuche

12. Kirtikumar Bangdia

MLA Ashish Shelar, who is among the suspended MLAS condemned the action and said, "This Thackeray government is acting like Taliban. I condemn the action. Neither me nor any other MLA abused Bhaskar Jadhav."

He went on to claim that he apologised to the speaker "but despite that they suspended (us)," NDTV reported.

(With inputs from ANI and NDTV)