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Ruckus in Maharashtra assembly, council

Vociferous slogans for and against Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and former Maharashtra chief minister Sharad Pawar marred the last day of the winter session of the legislative assembly.

The House was adjourned four times.

The ruling alliance as well as opposition members disrupted the proceedings during the two-hour discussion on the S S Dani and S D Gundewar commission reports, tabled in the assembly on Wednesday.

Initiating the discussion, Chief Minister Manohar Joshi said his government had rejected the commission stand that former chief minister Sharad Pawar, former tribal development minister Madhukar Pichad, former minister for social welfare Surupsing Naik and former minister of state for social welfare Marutirao Kowase could not be blamed for the stampede-deaths of 114 Gowaris, and its description of the incident as a 'tragic accident'.

Reading out the action taken report prepared by the government, Joshi said had the then chief minister or the ministers concerned met the delegation of Gowaris and heard their demands, the tragedy could have been averted.

So much was the previous government's apathy towards the weaker sections that Pawar had not even visited the injured in hospital.

Meanwhile, the legislative council too was adjourned four times. While the treasury benches demanded Pawar's arrest, the opposition raised slogans against the government for the killings of dalits in police firing in Ramabai Nagar in Bombay, in the wake of the desecration of Dr Ambedkar's statue.

The first three adjournments were for 10 minutes each and the fourth for 30 minutes. When the house resumed, Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde said leader of opposition Chhagan Bhujbal had shown disrespect to the chair during the earlier bedlam -- a charge which the opposition denied before walking out.

UNI

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