Maha Guv heckling: Probe panel to hold first meet tomorrow

Mumbai, Dec 3: The committee appointed to probe the alleged incident of heckling and causing injury to Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao, for which five Congress MLAs had been suspended, will hold its maiden meeting here tomorrow.

The legislators were suspended for two years as the government accused them of causing injury to Governor when they tried to block his entry into the House to address a joint sitting of the bicameral legislature on November 12. The Governor had suffered injuries on his hand in the incident.

The Congress MLAs had squatted on the stairs of Vidhan Bhavan building to protest against the controversial voice vote won by the BJP government and were shouting slogans asking the Governor not to address the session. This will be the first meeting of the committee, headed by Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Haribhau Bagde, after it was set up in the Assembly on November 12.

Apart from the Speaker, the committee comprises Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prakash Mehta, senior legislator Ganpatrao Deshmukh, Leader of Opposition in Assembly Eknath Shinde, BJP legislator Girish Bapat, Congress group leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and NCP group leader R R Patil. Sources said Eknath Shinde raised the issue at the Business Advisory Committee meet last week and sought to know why the meeting was not held so far.

"It would be an injustice to the five MLAs if they remain suspended without any fault. So, decision should be taken at the earliest," sources quoted Shinde as saying. Amar Kale, Virendra Jagtap, Abdul Sattar, Rahul Bondre and Jaykumar Gore were suspended for a period of two years. The house panel will examine all the video footage on the Vidhan Bhavan premises to verify the charges against the legislators.

PTI