The election of a new Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly is believed to be have been discussed at a meeting on Wednesday evening between Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and leaders of the other two coalition partners.
Earlier in the day, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and minister in the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi government Nawab Malik said they were considering various options. However, taking a jibe at Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, he said the latter should consider clearing the names of 12 Members of the Legislative Council.
A letter dated June 24 by the Governor to Mr. Thackeray was made public by BJP sources on Wednesday. In the letter, Mr. Koshiyari said a BJP delegation led by former chief minister and Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis visited Raj Bhavan on June 23 and submitted two memorandums.
Mr. Koshyari has asked the CM to take action on demands raised by Mr. Fadnavis regarding the extension of the monsoon session, holding elections for the Assembly Speaker, and postponement of local body elections due to pending OBC quota issue. In the letter, Mr. Koshyari said the three issues raised by the LoP were important for the State and asked Mr. Thackeray to apprise him of action taken on them.
A two-day monsoon session of the Maharashtra legislature is scheduled to begin on July 5 amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The decision on the session was taken after a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee in the Vidhan Bhavan which was attended by leaders from the ruling and opposition parties.
Criticising the government for the short duration of the session, Mr. Fadnavis had alleged the MVA government was trying to ‘run away’ from issues concerning the common people and also from the democratic process.
