Ministers play truant, drive speaker mad

The Maharashtra assembly was adjourned twice on Wednesday as none of the ministers was present. “This is just too much,” speaker Dilip Walse Patil said. “The government is not serious about the proceedings,” he said while adjourning the house.

Leader of opposition in the assembly Eknath Khadse protested against the absence of the urban development minister and demanded that the house be adjourned. There were no ministers even after 10 minutes when the house resumed. Members could not recall the last time when such an incident had occurred. The rules say at least one cabinet minister has to be in the house for it to run.
Left with no option, the speaker adjourned the house for the second time for about 30 minutes. He termed the matter “serious” as the absence implied that ministers were not following the rules. “Not just the ministers related to the two calling attentions are absent… there is not a single cabinet minister present.”
Khadse said the government should apologise for wasting “valuable time”. Later, tribal development minister Babanrao Pachpute apologised for the fiasco.