BJP starts parallel session outside Maharashtra Assembly in protest against MLAs' suspension

BJP legislators started a parallel Assembly session outside the House in Mumbai following a protest against the suspension of 12 party MLAs from the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for a year. Leader of Opposition (LoP) Devendra Fadnavis also participated in the party's parallel assembly session.

Mumbai (Maharashtra): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators on Tuesday started a parallel Assembly session outside the House in Mumbai following a protest against the suspension of 12 party MLAs from the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for a year. Praveen Darekar, Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Council, announced that party leader Kalidas Kolambkar will be Speaker in BJP's parallel session.

Leader of Opposition (LoP) Devendra Fadnavis also participated in the party's parallel assembly session. Earlier in the day, BJP MLAs staged a protest at the state Assembly in Mumbai, against the suspension of 12 of its legislators and the OBC reservation issue. Meanwhile, BJP also organised a protest in Nagpur where party workers burned the effigies of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. On Monday, after suspending the 12 MLAs, Speaker in-chair Bhaskar Jadhav claimed Leader of Opposition (LoP) Devendra Fadnavis along with other BJP leaders abused and tried to attack him in Speaker's chamber on Monday.

Read: 12 BJP MLAs suspended from Maharashtra Assembly for 1 yr for 'misbehaving' with presiding officer

Speaking to the media, Jadhav said after Maharashtra Minister Chhagan Bhujbal answered Devendra Fadnavis's remarks on OBC reservation with 'evidence', BJP became 'uneasy'. The 12 BJP MLAs who were suspended from the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, met Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and requested his intervention in the matter yesterday. Maharashtra Assembly Speaker suspended 12 BJP MLAs for one year, for creating ruckus in the House, during the ongoing Assembly session. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anil Parab presented a resolution to suspend the MLAs and the House passed it on a majority vote.

The suspended MLAs include Dr Sanjay Kute, Ashish Shelar, Abhimanyu Pawar, Girish Mahajan, Atul Bhatkhalkar, Harish Pimple, Jaikumar Rawal, Yogesh Sagar, Narayan Kuche, Bunty Bhangdiya, Parag Alvani and Ram Satpute. The ruckus took place as the Maha Vikas Aghadi government passed a resolution seeking empirical data on OBCs from the central government.

Read:Maharashtra Speaker claims suspended BJP MLAs abused, tried to attack him

(ANI)