CM Fadnavis wins Maha trust vote
13 Nov 2014 6:07 AM IST
The commotion ended in governor Chaudhary Vidyasagar Rao being heckled outside the House and five Congress MLAs getting suspended for two years.
The passage of the trust vote through voice ballot came as quite an anti-climax as earlier in the day the Congress and the Shiv Sena had withdrawn their candidates to allow unanimous election of BJP leader Haribhau Bagde as the Speaker. However, later in the day, Bagde refused to oblige the Opposition benches when they asked for division of votes when the motion of trust was placed.
Sources said the decision to not follow the process of division of votes was taken with an aim to keep the support of Sharad Pawar’s NCP under wraps. Pawar’s NCP in case of division would have pressed ‘abstention’ button to bail out the government. This would have exposed the tacit understanding between the two otherwise ideological adversaries to save the government.
As soon as Bagde announced that the motion has been passed, a section of Shiv Sena MLAs stormed the Well of the House seeking division of votes. Sena leaders were heard raising slogans that their leader Eknath Shinde be accorded the status of leader of opposition. Soon after, the Speaker announced appointment of Shinde as leader of opposition (LoP) in the House.
Bagde took up the issue of Sena’s demand for LoP status after Congress too staked claim for the same in the assembly. Congress alleged that its member should be given the status of LoP because Sena continued to be a constituent of BJP-led NDA.
The issue turned ugly and both the party leaders got into a heated argument. In the meantime, Sena leaders too joined in the melee and objected to the passing of the trust motion by a voice vote and
sought division.
When the proceedings could not be taken ahead due to the chaos, Bagde adjourned the House and after a while when the House resumed appointment of Shinde was announced. ‘We have sought division of votes but the Speaker didn’t pay any heed to our plea. Democracy has been strangulated. The process should be followed as per rules and the Constitution. The new government is strangulating democracy,’ Shinde said.
In the meantime, Fadnavis intervened and pointing at Shinde, said, ‘Despite being the leader of opposition, we expect that you should not oppose us on each and every issue. You should be more responsible in supporting the government for the development of Maharashtra.’
Later, speaking to mediapersons former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said, ‘Whatever happened in the assembly today is unprecedented and we are demanding a fresh vote through division. It is a black day for democratic processes in Maharashtra. It has never happened that a confidence motion was passed by voice vote. The process is illegal and the government is illegitimate.’ State Congress president Manikrao Thakre, said, ‘It was governments’ responsibility to get the motion passed through division especially when the government is in a minority. Vajpayee government had fallen by just one vote in Parliament.’
The passage of the trust vote through voice ballot came as quite an anti-climax as earlier in the day the Congress and the Shiv Sena had withdrawn their candidates to allow unanimous election of BJP leader Haribhau Bagde as the Speaker. However, later in the day, Bagde refused to oblige the Opposition benches when they asked for division of votes when the motion of trust was placed.
Sources said the decision to not follow the process of division of votes was taken with an aim to keep the support of Sharad Pawar’s NCP under wraps. Pawar’s NCP in case of division would have pressed ‘abstention’ button to bail out the government. This would have exposed the tacit understanding between the two otherwise ideological adversaries to save the government.
As soon as Bagde announced that the motion has been passed, a section of Shiv Sena MLAs stormed the Well of the House seeking division of votes. Sena leaders were heard raising slogans that their leader Eknath Shinde be accorded the status of leader of opposition. Soon after, the Speaker announced appointment of Shinde as leader of opposition (LoP) in the House.
Bagde took up the issue of Sena’s demand for LoP status after Congress too staked claim for the same in the assembly. Congress alleged that its member should be given the status of LoP because Sena continued to be a constituent of BJP-led NDA.
The issue turned ugly and both the party leaders got into a heated argument. In the meantime, Sena leaders too joined in the melee and objected to the passing of the trust motion by a voice vote and
sought division.
When the proceedings could not be taken ahead due to the chaos, Bagde adjourned the House and after a while when the House resumed appointment of Shinde was announced. ‘We have sought division of votes but the Speaker didn’t pay any heed to our plea. Democracy has been strangulated. The process should be followed as per rules and the Constitution. The new government is strangulating democracy,’ Shinde said.
In the meantime, Fadnavis intervened and pointing at Shinde, said, ‘Despite being the leader of opposition, we expect that you should not oppose us on each and every issue. You should be more responsible in supporting the government for the development of Maharashtra.’
Later, speaking to mediapersons former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said, ‘Whatever happened in the assembly today is unprecedented and we are demanding a fresh vote through division. It is a black day for democratic processes in Maharashtra. It has never happened that a confidence motion was passed by voice vote. The process is illegal and the government is illegitimate.’ State Congress president Manikrao Thakre, said, ‘It was governments’ responsibility to get the motion passed through division especially when the government is in a minority. Vajpayee government had fallen by just one vote in Parliament.’
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