Isolated in the Assembly after the Shiv Sena teamed up with Opposition in demanding Advocate-General Shrihari Aney’s ouster from the post for allegedly violating the norms of a constitutional position, the ruling BJP on Monday adjourned both the houses for a day.
Mr Aney has once again landed in controversy after he raised the demand of ‘separate Marathwada’ on the lines of separate statehood for Vidarbha. At a programme in Jalana district of Marathwada on March 20, Mr Aney said that separate statehood should be given to Marathwada. He even went on to call for a ‘struggle’ to get the demand accepted, claiming the region has suffered more injustice than Vidarbha.
According to sources, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has expressed unhappiness over the AG’s comments. The Congress along with the NCP and rest of the opposition submitted a resolution to the Assembly speaker under section 23, seeking Mr Aney’s ouster. The Shiv Sena, a constituent of the state government, too submitted a similar resolution.
With the Assembly getting adjourned for four times and the opposition sticking to their demand along with the Sena, the BJP had a crisis. “The CM should have either declared ouster of Mr Aney or should have gone for discussions and if necessary a vote on this. With the Sena in the opposition, the resolution would have passed and it would have been the biggest embarrassment for him. It would have proven that the CM enjoys no majority,” said Congress leader and former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.
Sena leader and Environment Minister Ramdas Kadam had declared that none of the ministers from his party would participate in the Cabinet meetings unless Mr Aney is removed from the position. “The Sena has always stood for one, united Maharashtra. We cannot and we will never backtrack from the position. The Chief Minister must remove him (Mr Aney) who is promoting the division of this state,” said Mr Kadam.
Mr Fadnavis held a meeting with leaders of all parties over the issue. Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse announced in the house that the government does not support any views expressed by Mr Aney. “This is not the government’s position. There have been discussions with the Chief Minister about the possible action to be taken against him and the decision will be announced tomorrow. The government does not support the demand of separate Marathwada or Vidarbha.”
BJP MLAs too joined the crowd of all party MLAs protesting against Mr Aney inside the Assembly and raised slogans against him. Speaker Haribhau Bagde adjourned the house for a day, rescuing the government from a possible vote on the resolution. The State council too was adjourned at 1.15 pm following uproar over the same issue.
Earlier, accusing Mr Aney of violating the norms prescribed to a constitutional position, leader of opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil raised the issue in the question hour through an adjournment motion. He was seconded by NCP’s Jayant Patil and Dilip Walse-Patil, Sena’s Pratap Sarnaik, and PWP’s Ganpatrao Deshmukh.
