Maharashtra Assembly adjourned twice amid ruckus by Congress, NCP

Nagpur, Dec 9: The Congress and NCP, which had parted ways before the Maharashtra Assembly elections, today jointly raised the issue of drought-like situation in the state and demanded an urgent discussion on it in the House by suspension of the Question Hour.

Following the ruckus by the two former allies, the House had to be adjourned twice. As soon as the House assembled for the day, Congress group leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil demanded suspension of the Question Hour under rule 57 and sought a discussion on the drought situation.

But, Speaker Haribhau Bagde rejected the demand following which angry members from Opposition benches trooped into the well of the House, prompting him to adjourn the House for 10 minutes.

When the House reassembled, the Opposition members continued to raise anti-government slogans. Ignoring protests and shouting, the Speaker chose to go ahead with the Question Hour. He allowed starred questions upto no. 8 to be taken up, to which some ministers replied also.

Few members, whose questions were listed, were absent. Later, barring NCP's Ajit Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse-Patil, the opposition members including Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Vijay Wadetiwar (all of Congress), Shashikant Shinde, Jitendra Awhad (NCP) and others squatted on the floor of the House.

Bhujbal reminded state Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse that when in opposition, they were allowed to speak by the then Congress-NCP government. He said the treasury benches should adjourn the House for half-an-hour and take up discussion on drought situation.

Khadse immediately agreed and subsequently the Speaker adjourned the House for 30 minutes, by which time the duration of Question Hour also ended.

PTI