Maharashtra Assembly uproar: Speaker suspends 19 MLAs till December 31

Mumbai: 19 MLAs were suspended by Speaker Haribhau Bagade till December 31 2017 for creating uproar in Maharashtra Assembly during budget announcement on March 18.

The Maharashtra Government last week proposed to raise tax on liquor and lottery while earmarking Rs 8,233 crore for irrigation projects in its budget for 2017-18 with an estimated revenue deficit of Rs 4,511 crore.

Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar presented his third straight budget, which he described as "agriculture-centric," in the assembly amid vociferous demand by the Opposition for a farm loan waiver.

He said the BJP-led government has taken a major decision to merge plan and non-plan expenditure from 2017-18.

The budget was tabled on Saturday amidst noisy scenes by the opposition parties which vociferously raised the demand for a complete farm loan waiver package by the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena government.

Terming the budget as "directionless, which would push the state into a financial crisis," the opposition made a bonfire of budget copies outside the legislature.

Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil (Congress) led the opposition charge by terming the budget as "a fraud on the farmers with mere carrots on the issue of farm loans waiver, which has shattered the dreams of the land tillers in the state."

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said he was "ashamed" of the Opposition parties "belittling democracy and ridiculing farmers" in the garb of seeking justice for them.

"The behaviour of the Opposition parties during the Budget speech today has belittled democracy. They were openly making fun and laughing in the garb of seeking justice for farmers," Fadnavis told reporters here after the presentation of Budget.