The members were on Wednesday suspended till December 15 for breach of discipline and indecent behaviour in the House on Tuesday.
Updated at 11.30 pm
NAGPUR: Eleven members of the Shiv Sena-BJP opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly were on Wednesday suspended till December 15 for taking out a mock funeral procession on the floor on Monday afternoon and creating a ruckus, an hour after they moved a no-confidence motion against the Democratic Front government.
The suspended members are Devendra Fadnavis, Girish Mahajan, Sandeep Dhurve, Baburao Pacharne, Dilip Yelgaonkar, Suresh Khade (all Bharatiya Janata Party), Sharad Dhamale, Sunil Dhande, Ravindra Gaikwad, Eknath Shinde (all Shiv Sena) and Wamanrao Chatap (Swatantra Bharat Party).
In a surprise action, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harshwardhan Patil placed the resolution seeking suspension of the eleven members around 4.30 pm in the House sans the opposition members and had the motion passed by a voice vote.
Notably, the Speaker and the government had, on Tuesday evening, decided to pardon all eleven members after a joint discussion. But the decision to invoke suspension citing precedents was apparently taken after the Opposition moved a no-confidence motion, which would have to be admitted by the legislative secretary and which would come up for discussion any time over the next three days. The suspension of 11 members means that many less votes from the Opposition.
“It’s an autocratic decision of a weak and immoral government; we’ll continue to fight for farmers on streets,” an agitated Devendra Fadnavis, BJP member and one of the suspended legislators, told reporters. “It’s a pity the government, which is in a majority in the House, can’t face us over the farmers’ issue,” he said.
Senior BJP member Girish Mahajan, Swatantra Bharat Paksha MLA Wamanrao Chatap, Shiv Sena members Sunil Dhande, and Suresh Khade were among the members suspended for what the House felt was an ‘unruly behaviour’.
Interestingly, Fadnavis is facing suspension for the second time this year. The BJP legislator from West Nagpur seat was the ‘best parliamentarian’ last year.
Justifying the decision, Harshwardhan Patil said: “Taking out a mock funeral procession in the House is unpardonable; there's a precedent for such a case.”
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