MUMBAI: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is yet to finalise the Congress MLA’s name for the post of the leader of the Opposition a week after the monsoon session of the Maharashtra assembly began on July 17. NCP leader Ajit Pawar, who was the LoP in the Assembly, joined the BJP-led government as deputy chief minister on July 2. Since then the post has been lying vacant.
According to a senior Congress leader, the party is the largest entity in the 288-member Assembly with 45 MLAs. It has decided to lay its claim over the LoP post. “Maharashtra Congress in-charge and Karnataka minister HR Patil has called a meeting of party MLAs to discuss the name for the LoP. Sources said a few names were discussed and that he submitted a report more than two weeks ago. However, the Congress leadership is yet to finalise the name.
The situation has prompted some MLAs, to lobby for the post. “We expected the final decision on the eve of the monsoon session of the Assembly. However, it has been a week since the session began,” said a senior Congress leader. He said once the name is finalized, it will be submitted to the Speaker who would
officially accept it and declare the LoP.
Another Congress leader said the party not only expected the LoP post in the assembly, but also in the Upper House of the Assembly. Shiv Sena (UBT) had 10 MLAs so the LoP post was given to Shiv Sena (UBT) MLC Ambadas Danave a year ago. But two MLCs of Shiv Sena (UBT) including deputy chairman of the Upper House Neelam Gore and MLC Manisha Kayande left Uddhav Thackeray’s Sena and joined the Eknath Shinde group.
Therefore, Shiv Sena’s numbers in the Upper House dropped from 10 MLCs to eight. The Congress has nine MLCs. Therefore, Congress is eligible to get the LoP in the Upper House as well. Congress stood at the fourth position in the numbers game in the Assembly, but due to various political alignments,
it is now in a position to be the main Opposition force in the state.
“We can get two LoPs in Upper and Lower Houses of the assembly. The LoP is the key post that can help the party to raise the issues involving farmers and common man on the floor of the House. The LoP enjoys the status of a cabinet minister. State Congress chief Nana Patole said the party is following it up with the party leaders in Delhi.
“Once we get the name, it will be submitted to the Speaker as part of the regular procedure,” Patole said. The dilly-dallying by the Congress over the LoP is giving time to the nascent three-way alliance of Ajit Pawar, BJP and the Shiv Sena led by Shinde to consolidate their position by ironing out initial differences.
Eknath Shinde group miffed over fund allocation
Immediately after taking the oath of deputy CM in the BJP-led government, Finance Minister Ajit Pawar tabled the Rs 45,000 crore worth supplementary demands bill. Out of it, Rs 1,500 crore is marked for MLAs’ fund, a part of which is also meant for the rebelled NCP MLAs who supported Ajit. Earlier, CM Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena alleged that Ajit as a finance minister in the MVA government allocated funds to the NCP MLAs only and they were deprived of any allocation. That was the reason for the Sena MLAs to switch sides. The same allegations are now made against Ajit in the Shinde-led government.