Hitting out at the Maharashtra government for getting the motion of confidence in Speaker passed in the Assembly, Opposition Congress-NCP today said the incident was a "blot" on the democracy.
The opposition parties alleged that a debate on its notice of no-trust against Speaker Haribhau Bagde was not allowed in the House as the BJP-led dispensation was scared that the issues of Bagde's bias and the government's failures would come up for discussion.
Outmanoeuvring the opposition, which had given a notice of no-confidence against Bagde, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today moved a motion of confidence in the Chair, which the Legislative Assembly passed by a voice vote.
The opposition had submitted a notice of no-confidence against the speaker on March 5 alleging that he was conducting the proceedings in a biased manner.
Addressing a press conference after the Lower House was adjourned for the day, former Assembly Speaker and NCP MLA Dilip Walse Patil said the government and the legislature are two separate institutions.
"As per the rule, the speaker has to read out the notice after 14 days of its submission and ask 29 members of the House to stand up in support of the notice. He then admits the notice as a motion and fixes the date of debate on the motion. The chief minister has no role to play in this," he said.
He added that although the CM's motion of confidence in Speaker was passed, the opposition's notice of no-trust still remains.
"The government is wrong in saying that the issue was over. Our no confidence was not against the government," he said.
"Since we don't have numbers in the House, it was clear that the no-trust vote against the speaker would not have passed. But we expected a debate on improving the functioning of the House," Walse Patil said.
"Although we were not allowed to speak, we kept quiet and wanted the House to function. But the treasury benches disrupted the proceedings and the House was adjourned. It is now clear that the government did not want to allow a debate on the law and order and corruption, which we were to raise," he added.
Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil said they would submit a letter to the Legislature Secretariat to list the no-confidence noticein the business of the House on Monday.
"It is clear that the government did not want issues of corruption and its failure on all fronts to be discussed in the House. The government will have to answer the people. We will press for the no-confidence motion against the speaker. The government has the majority in the Assembly and it can ask for vote," he said.
Jayant Patil of NCP sought to know the need to adjourn the House after getting the trust vote passed by a voice vote.
"Why did they run away from a debate. We wanted the functioning of the House to improve and ensure that there is no injustice on the opposition members, who are disallowed from raising issues of public interest.
"In case of no confidence against the speaker, it is the speaker who reads out the notice in the House. But, the speaker works under government pressure," he said.
Patil described Fadnavis' action of moving the trust vote in favour of the speaker as "childish".
Former chief minister and Congress member Prithviraj Chavan said Bagde had lost all the moral authority to preside over the House.
"What was the fear when the government has majority in the Assembly. Why did the government run away from debate? What the CM did was reading out a statement. It was not a motion since it was not listed on the day's agenda," he said.
Chavan also targeted the Shiv Sena for supporting the government in this aspect.
"The true faces of the BJP as well as that of the Sena have been exposed. They can't face the people. It is better if the Sena opposes the BJP in the legislature and the cabinet instead of the editorials in 'Saamana' (Sena mouthpiece). It should come out of the cabinet and target the BJP on the streets," he said.
Even after the House was adjourned for the day, the opposition leaders continued to sit there as a mark of protest.
They said a delegation will meet Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao in the evening over the issue.
"We will then discuss how long we will sit in the House to protest," he said.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
