Maharashtra speaker poll put off

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar arrives on the last day of the winter session of the Maharashtra legislative assembly on Tuesday. Pic/Suresh Karkera

The cautious Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government has put off the Assembly Speaker's election after engaging the Raj Bhavan in yet another round of battle. Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari had told the government that he wanted to legally examine the amendment made to the election rule and refused to grant permission to hold the poll in the winter session of the legislature that ended on Tuesday.

The matter was given a temporary break by the government following an exchange of letters between the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) and the Raj Bhavan. The letters cross-examined the legislature and governor's constitutional rights, with the CMO emphasising that the governor should accept the government's recommendation instead of examining the legality of the change made to the rules that allow voice vote instead of a secret ballot. The governor stayed put and reiterated his objection to the amendment. The crisis had the MVA partners in a huddle. Legal advice was sought and senior leaders, including the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) boss Sharad Pawar and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, discussed the matter.

This isn't the first time that the governor and the government have locked horns. After a series of skirmishes, the battle escalated further recently when the government decided to bring in a law to curtail the governor's power to appoint vice-chancellors to universities. In the past, the governor was reported to the Prime Minister for overstepping his powers and delaying the appointment of 12 persons to the legislative council. In addition, Koshyari and CM Thackeray had exchanged barbs through letters over a delay in reopening temples in the unlock process during the pandemic.

In an embarrassing situation for the governor, he was once not allowed to travel in a state aircraft. Last year, a series of review meetings held at the Raj Bhavan had also been objected to by the CMO. The governor was criticised for visiting flood-affected areas with a suspended BJP legislator.

BJP's hidden agenda: Patole

Refusing to accept that the MVA has gone on the back foot, State Congress president Nana Patole accused the Raj Bhavan of toeing the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) hidden agenda. And yet he stated that the election was postponed out of pure respect for the governor's sentiments. Patole resigned from the Speaker's office in February this year. His party gets the top office in the MVA's power-sharing formula.

Patole said the government was prepared to hold the poll on Tuesday, the last day of the session. "Since the governor hadn't responded to the CM's letter till 6pm Monday, it was taken as the Raj Bhavan's assent. The preparation had started last night. But a letter came from Koshyari on Tuesday morning. It was decided to respect the governor's sentiments," said Patole, wondering why the governor, who had asked twice to elect the speaker, has now stalled the process.

Accusing Koshyari of being hand-in-glove with the BJP, Patole said. "One of the letters from the governor has reproduced a statement that Devendra Fadnavis had made in the Assembly about the elections and changes made to the rules," he said, adding that the MVA wasn't afraid of the BJP's threats of imposing president's rule in the state.

Conducive to Prez rule: BJP

Senior BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar said that the situation in Maharashtra was conducive for the President's Rule because there have been 98 instances of constitutional crisis. "But PM Narendra Modi and the BJP don't want the president's rule because the party believes in defeating the opposition in a democratic process and not by using certain powers that are vested in the union government. "But one cannot rule out a possibility of the president's rule if an aggrieved person moves the Supreme Court citing the situation in Maharashtra," said the ex-finance minister.

Code of conduct for lawmakers

In addition to the existing rule book, all-party meetings have prepared a code of conduct for the members of the legislature. The decision came after a couple of incidents of bad behaviour in and outside the House. A heated debate had followed in an incident involving BJP's Nitesh Rane and Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray. Earlier, the Shiv Sena's Bhashkar Jadhav had apologised to the Assembly for mimicking PM Narendra Modi. The House concluded that the legislature (both Houses) needed a strong code of conduct that should invite immediate punishment for the violator, as a preventive measure.

Governor's powers curbed

On a day the government had to stall the speaker's election because of the governor's disagreement over legality of the process, a bill to clip the governor's powers for governing the universities was passed amid the opposition's protest in the Assembly. Leader of opposition Devendra Fadnavis decried that the bill was passed without continuing the debate. The upper house was also expected to pass it late Tuesday night."This is a black day for the legislature. The government is trying to control the universities," he said. The BJP has planned a statewide protest against the law seeking its withdrawal in the interest of the students.