Drought issue rocks Maharashtra Assembly

Mumbai, Jul 16 (UNI) The first day of the monsoon session of Maharashtra legislative Assembly witnessed stormy scenes and the House was adjourned thrice over the issue of drought situation in the state.

As the house assembled, leader of opposition Ramdas Kadam stood up with the demand to suspend the day's business and start discussion on the drought situation.

He was supported BJP leader Eknath Khadase and senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde as well as Peasants ad Workers Party (PWP) leader Ganapatra Deshmukh.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harshvardhan Patil said the government was ready for disscusion if the mater was taken up under rule 101. However, the opposition persisted with their demand of holding the same with the adjournment motion.

The issue became more volatile when angry Shiv sena-BJP members rushed in to the well of the House.

The Speaker Babasaheb Kupekar suspended the business for 15 minutes. Later the House was suspended twice again.

When the House resumed, the speaker gave the ruling that the discussion would be held on the issue under rule 101 today itself after the condolence motion.

UNI XR/JM JT RN1410