House adjourned after Opposition protest, but council discussed issue amid the din.
Day One of Maharashtra’s winter session was no different from that of Parliament: Chaos, slogan-shouting and protests leading to a complete washout of assembly proceedings.
The Opposition’s demand that the issue of higher remuneration for cotton growing farmers be addressed immediately forced the assembly speaker to adjourn the session.
But as the day wore on, it was the Congress and NCP that were smiling as results of the various local councils showed that they had performed far better than the BJP and Shiv Sena.
On Monday morning, members of the Bharatiya Yuva Janata Morcha, the BJP's youth wing, broke beacons atop the cars of ministers Babanrao Pachpute and Rajesh Tope, demanding higher prices for cotton.
Members of the Opposition entered the Vidhan Bhavan carrying a basket of cotton. Soon after the singing of Vande Mataram in the assembly, BJP and Sena members started shouting for higher cotton prices, forcing an adjournment.
Later, when the assembly met again, speaker Dilip Walse-Patil insisted that the assembly take up the expression of condolence for MLAs who had passed away in the last few months, a tradition on the first day of every session.
After the members expressed their condolences, the Opposition again rushed into the well of the House, demanding that the government agree to a higher price for cotton. After two adjournments, the speaker finally adjourned the house for the day without taking up the questions listed for Monday.
The situation was slightly better in the Vidhan Parishad.
When the Opposition demanded that the state announce a higher minimum support price for cotton, the treasury benches ignored their demands and began the question hour.
BJP member Vinod Tawade, who is slated to take over as leader of the Opposition in the Vidhan Parishad, admitted that the initial plan had been to force the council to adjourn like the assembly. “But, the Opposition number is very small and this allows the state to go ahead with its discussions," he said.
The irony was hard to miss. Both the treasury benches and the Opposition spoke about the plight of the cotton farmers and how they were committed to helping them.
Tawade later admitted that perhaps the Opposition had erred in its decision to force the government to announce a higher price for cotton instead of first allowing a discussion.
“If we would have agreed to have a discussion, by the end of the day the government would have been forced to announce how exactly it plans to help the farmers. We know that they have not even decided on this issue.”
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