The Opposition on Tuesday walked out of both Houses of the Maharashtra legislature, protesting the alleged leak of the State’s Budget for 2019-20 on the Twitter handle of Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, before he presented it in the Assembly.
Opposition members have demanded an apology from the finance minister along with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis over the issue. “We were in power for 15 years, but the Budget never got leaked. Now the Budget provisions are put out on the finance minister’s Twitter account along with advertisements even before he read those out to us,” Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Member of the Legislative Assembly and former Finance Minister Ajit Pawar told reporters.
“That means the team handling the minister’s Twitter account had the details. It means the Budget was leaked to them first. This is an insult of the members. Both Mr.Mungantiwar and Mr. Fadnavis should apologise,” Mr. Pawar said.
“In other countries, finance ministers would have resigned had the Budget been leaked,” Congress MLA and former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said.
In the Assembly, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis denied any leak and said that the finance minister’s official Twitter account was relaying the Budget announcements live, and that too 15 minutes after they were made in the House.
“The Opposition should understand the new techniques of communication. The first tweet came 15 minutes after the Budget presentation started. There was no leak and the Opposition, instead of boycotting the proceedings, should attend it,” Mr. Fadnavis said.
Leader of the Opposition in the Council, Dhananjay Munde of the NCP, demanded the resignation of Mr. Mungantiwar and MoS for Finance Deepak Kesarkar.
Opposition legislators from both Houses protested against the “leak” on the legislature premises. The Budget was presented simultaneously by Mr. Mungantiwar and Mr. Kesarkar in the Assembly and Council, respectively.
The Opposition on Tuesday walked out of both Houses of the Maharashtra legislature protesting the alleged leak of the State’s Budget for 2019-20 on the Twitter handle of Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, before he presented it in the Assembly.
Opposition members have demanded an apology from the Finance Minister along with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis over the issue.
“We were in power for 15 years, but the budget never got leaked. Now the Budget provisions are put out on the finance minister’s Twitter account along with advertisements even before he read those out to us,” Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Member of the Legislative Assembly and former Finance Minister Ajit Pawar told reporters.
“That means the team handling the minister’s Twitter account had the details. It means the Budget was leaked to them first. This is an insult of the members. Both Mungantiwar and Fadnavis should apologise,” Mr. Pawar said.
“In other countries, finance ministers would have resigned had the Budget been leaked,” Congress MLA and former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said.
In the Assembly, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis denied any leak and said the Finance Minister’s official Twitter account was relaying the Budget announcements live and that too 15 minutes after they were made. “The Opposition should understand the new techniques of communication. The first tweet came 15 minutes after the Budget presentation started. There was no leak and the Opposition, instead of boycotting the proceedings, should attend it,” he said.
Leader of the Opposition in the Council, Dhananjay Munde of the NCP, demanded the resignation of Mr. Mungantiwar and Minister of State for Finance Deepak Kesarkar.
Opposition legislators from both Houses protested against the “leak” on the legislature premises. The Budget was presented simultaneously by Mungantiwar and Kesarkar in the Assembly and Council, respectively.
When Mr. Kesarkar rose to present the Budget in the Upper House, Mr. Munde waved his mobile phone and read out Budget details that he claimed were posted on Mr. Mungantiwar’s Twitter account.
Following a ruckus over the issue, Council Chairman Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar adjourned the House for 10 minutes.
When the proceedings resumed, Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil of the Bharatiya Janata Party, who is also the leader of the House, said he would move a no-confidence motion against Mr. Nimbalkar, alleging that he has failed to protect their rights.
Mr. Pawar later told reporters the Opposition expected the government to lay out promises in the Budget as the Assembly elections are around the corner. “But when it comes to implementing the promises, they will cite the election code of conduct,” he said.
