Mumbai: The proceedings of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Monday saw repeated adjournments over the suspension of five MLAs, accused of thrashing a cop in the Vidhan Bhawan premises last week.
As soon as the House assembled at 11 AM after the weekend recess, Leader of Opposition Eknath Khadse said group leaders in the Lower House were called for a meeting in the Speaker`s chamber at 10 AM to find a solution to the issue.
"However, we kept waiting for an hour but there was no sign of Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. The government is not serious to resolve the deadlock to facilitate smooth functioning of the Assembly," Khadse complained.
Harshvardhan Jadhav(MNS), who was allegedly beaten up by the police two years ago, said about seven policemen were booked under section 307 (attempt to murder) in the case, but nobody was arrested.
"Policemen booked under section 307 are promoted while MLAs wrongly booked under section 353 (obstructing government servant from discharging duties) are sent to jail. Why laws should be separate for the police and legislators?" he asked.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harshvardhan Patil said the government is willing to discuss the matter to find a solution and appealed that the House proceedings be resumed.
However, sensing the mood of the House, the Chair adjourned it till the end of the Question Hour.
Later, Deputy Speaker Vasant Purke appealed to the members to take their seats since the meeting of group leaders with the Chief Minister had begun.
However, Nana Patole (BJP) said unless the issue is resolved and MLAs get justice, the House proceedings cannot be started.
Independent legislator Sunil Kedar said the police affidavit appealing against the bail application of the two MLAs says that if the legislators are granted bail, they will tamper with the evidence.
"This is a direct assault on the office of the Speaker. Anything that happens in the Legislature premises is the property of the Speaker. Officers who have filed this affidavit should be punished, no matter which post they are on," he demanded.
Purke then adjourned the House till 2 PM.
The Legislative Assembly had seen repeated adjournments on Thursday and Friday before going into the weekend recess.
Members cutting across party lines have been demanding action against traffic police sub-inspector Sachin Suryavanshi for allegedly misbehaving with legislator Kshitij Thakur (Independent) despite him paying the penalty for over-speeding on the Bandra-Worli Sealink.
They have also been demanding that two crime branch officers, who had trespassed into the Vidhan Bhawan complex with an intention to arrest two of the five suspended legislators, be named in the FIR.
The members also want that suspension of the legislators for the rest of the year be revoked as they say that there is no evidence against them, as per the CCTV footage.
PTI
