Politics to rule budget session

The issues of political killings and the deteriorating law and order situation - not the financial condition of the state - will dominate the Budget session of the Maharashtra Legislature which begins on Wednesday.

All Opposition leaders in the Legislature made it clear that they would target Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister R R Patil for the situation.

Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has lent a helping hand to Patil.

He said, “When did any Opposition, anytime in the past, had spared the ruling party and the Home Department? In every session - whether it is Budget or not - there is always an elaborate discussion on the law and order situation of the state and overall performance of the Home Department.”

But Patil will have a tough time defending especially after the recent incidents which saw NCP workers chopping off hands of a BJP worker in Pune and the murder of a Shiv Sena corporator in Mumbai.

Another key issue that the Opposition will raise will be that of drama over the enmass withdrawal of Opposition candidates from zilla parishad and panchayat samiti elections in Patil’s home town Tasgaon. The other major issues will include load shedding and farmers’ suicide, said Opposition Leader Ramdas Kadam.

Kadam, Leader of Opposition in Council Pandurang Phundkar, BJP’s national general secretary Gopinath Munde, BJP’s state unit president Nitin Gadkari and others were present at a joint meeting held at Kadam’s official residence. The Opposition made it clear that they would approach the Election Commission in this connection and would seek fresh polls in Tasgaon tehsil. The Opposition would also demand a report on how the  state’s total debts had gone up to Rs1,37,000 crore, said Kadam.

Patil said, “It is true that the withdrawal of more than 100 candidates from ZP and PS polls have created some doubts, but one must remember that even after the State Election Commission ordering re-poll and extending dates of withdrawal, all the candidates once again withdrew their candidatures. This shows that the earlier withdrawals were not forced ones.”

When questioned about the fact that the police had to register a case against their own chief (read the Home Minister), Patil said, “In fact it shows that how impartial and uninfluenced is the state police. That they allowed a complaint against me shows that they cannot be pressurised by anybody. However, the complainant was withdrawn by the complaint against me, and filed a fresh complaint against BJP’s senior leader Prakash Javdekar for forcing him to lodge a complaint against me.”

The Chief Minister said, “All the issues were raised by the Opposition during the recently held ZP and PS elections and the outcome is before us that the Congress-NCP has won two-thirds of the total seats and Opposition could get only one-third.”