Maharashtra: Opposition to not attend govt's customary tea party

Tea party to be hosted by Maharashtra government on the eve of the state legislature`s monsoon session (Pic/Ashish Raje)

The Opposition camp in Maharashtra - Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress, and the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) decided to boycott the tea party to be hosted by the government on the eve of the state legislature's monsoon session.

A meeting was organised by the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council Ambadas Danve, who belongs to Shiv Sena (UBT), which was attended by Congress legislative party leader Balasaheb Thorat and Nationalist Congress Party's Jayant Patil.

The monsoon session in Maharashtra will be starting on July 17, Monday.

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The post of the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly is lying vacant after Ajit Pawar resigned recently. Earlier on July 2, Ajit Pawar joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government and took oath as a Deputy CM. Eight other MLAs of Ajit Pawar's faction were sworn in as ministers.

Uddhav faction leader and MLA Sunil Raut stated that they will be boycotting the customary tea party.

MLA Sunil Raut said, "We will boycott the customary tea party (organised by the government ahead of the Monsoon Session). People are confused as to who is the CM- Eknath Shinde, Devendra Fadnavis, or Ajit Pawar. There are only two brands in Maharashtra, one is the Thackeray brand and the other is the Sharad Pawar brand."

"We have decided to boycott the high tea invitation of the state government as it has failed to solve the woes of people on several fronts. This government's validity on Constitutional norms is already in question," Danve said.

Danve alleged the government seems to have deployed a policy of "misusing" probe agencies to pressure the Opposition.

"We are seeing a gory picture of democracy in Maharashtra as several Constitutional norms are disregarded. The chief minister of Maharashtra himself is facing disqualification," Danve said.

When asked if Congress would stake a claim to the post of the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly in the wake of a split in the NCP, Balasaheb Thorat said, "Congress has 45 MLAs and we can stake a claim to the LoP post.

"However the nomination of the candidate for the post will be decided by senior leaders in Delhi," he added.

Watch tea party video here:

(with inputs from agencies)