MUMBAI: Maharashtra Legislative Council was adjourned for an hour on Thursday as soon as it gathered for conducting its business in the morning as no one from the treasury benches including the ministers were present in the house.
Parliamentary affairs minister Girish Bapat said that they have decided not to participate in the proceedings of the house as the opposition parties were not interested to listen to what the members from the ruling side have to say on the issues raised by them.
On Wednesday, members of ruling BJP, Shiv Sena and allied parties had staged a walkout from the house to protest what they termed as the strategy of the opposition Congress, NCP and their allies to not let the ruling side speak in the house.
Revenue minister Chandrakant Patil, who is also the leader of the house, had said while referring to the conduct of the opposition members, “We are a law making body and need to follow the rules, precedents and law.”
However, leader of opposition Dhananjay Munde denied that the opposition members have flouted any rules. Munde had said, “The ruling side just can’t take criticism and doesn’t want to let the opposition speak. They are trying to crush the voice of opposition."
The Council has a strength of 78 - in which BJP has 17 legislators and Shiv Sena 9 - totalling 26, whereas Opposition has 52 members.