Mumbai, 7 December (IANS). About 173 MLAs took oath on Saturday, the first day of the three-day special session of the newly constituted 15th Maharashtra Assembly.
On this occasion, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, former Assembly Speaker Dilip Walse Patil, former ministers Chhagan Bhujbal, Chandrakant Patil, Girish Mahajan, Hasan Mushrif, first-time MLA Shreejaya Chavan (daughter of former CM Ashok Chavan), Sana Malik (daughter of former minister Nawab Malik) and others took oath.
After this the assembly was adjourned. The Assembly will resume at 11 am on Sunday and the remaining MLAs will take oath.
Protem Speaker Kalidas Kolambkar presided over the proceedings. He announced a panel of presiding officers including Chainsukh Sancheti, Jaikumar Rawal, Manikrao Kokate and Ashish Jaiswal.
Most of the MLAs took oath in the name of God and Allah, while some, including Ajit Pawar, took the oath to bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India. Some MLAs took oath in Sanskrit language.
Before and after the commencement of the assembly proceedings, Mahayuti MLAs raised slogans of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj ki Jai, Jai Shri Ram and Vande Mataram.
Earlier, a group of BJP MLAs entered the Vidhan Sabha raising slogans like Bharat Mata Ki Jai, while NCP MLAs led by party president and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar came wearing pink turbans.
Before the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, Ajit Pawar started wearing a pink jacket and pink color was used in the party’s banners and posters. Shiv Sena MLAs came wearing saffron turbans under the leadership of Deputy Chief Minister and key party leader Eknath Shinde.
After this, Mahayuti MLAs under the leadership of Fadnavis, Shinde and Pawar garlanded the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar criticized Mahavikas Aghadi’s move of not taking oath on Saturday and said that they will have to take oath on Sunday, because only after that they will be able to participate in the proceedings on Monday.
MVA MLAs walked out of the House shortly after the proceedings began. He later announced that he did not take the oath in protest against the administration’s decision to not allow mock polling organized by villagers in Markadwadi in Malshiras constituency of Solapur. Congress leaders Vijay Wadettiwar, Nana Patole, Shiv Sena-UBT leader Aditya Thackeray and NCP-SP leader Jitendra Awhad also did not take oath in protest against voting through EVMs.
Ajit Pawar said, “The opposition knows the entire legislative process. This is a poor attempt by them to show their existence. There is no point in blaming EVMs. I have also worked in Mahavikas Aghadi when they contested the Lok Sabha elections. EVMs were good when they won 31 seats. But after the assembly results, they are blaming EVMs.”
NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal said, “Mahavikas Aghadi MLAs will have to take oath to participate in the House proceedings. I have been an MLA since 1985, but I have never seen such a situation. If they do not take oath in the House, they will be taken to the Speaker’s chamber.” I will have to take an oath.”
–IANS
AKS/CBT
