Monsoon session a litmus test for Shinde-Fadnavis and MVA

Mumbai: The monsoon session of the Maharashtra legislature will commence on August 17

Mumbai: The monsoon session of the Maharashtra legislature will commence on August 17. The nine-day session will be the Shinde-Fadnavis government’s first, since it came into being following a dramatic rebellion by Shiv Sena MLAs and the fall of Uddhav Thackeray government.

However, coordination between the three parties — NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena — will be an equal challenge for the opposition unity (Bhushan Koyande)

Opposition parties are planning to take the Shinde-Fadnavis led government head on. To begin with, Shinde will have to explain why two tainted ministers -- Sanjay Rathod and Abdul Sattar -- were inducted into his cabinet. The leaders made their dissatisfaction apparent by boycotting the customary tea party hosted by chief minister Eknath Shinde on the eve of the session on Tuesday.

However, coordination between the three parties — NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena — will be an equal challenge for the opposition unity.

The government’s first challenge is that all 18 ministers inducted on August 9 are new to their departments and know little about their respective portfolios allocated on August 14. In delaying the cabinet expansion by 41 days, even as many districts of the state were affected by floods, the government has provided enough grist to the opposition to chew on.

Soon after coming to power, it revoked many decisions taken by the Thackeray led MVA government. Shifting of Metro-3 car depot back to the Aarey Colony, direct elections of sarpanch (village council) and president of municipal councils and delay in providing relief to the flood-hit people are among the many on which the government can be pinned down.

In a media interaction, leader of opposition in council, Ambadas Danve, said that names of four children of agriculture minister Abdul Sattar had cropped up in the teachers’ eligibility test (TET) scam. Ajit Pawar, leader of opposition in state assembly too attacked the Shinde regime for inducting “daagi” faces like FDA minister Sanjay Rathod, who has been linked with the death of a 22-year-old TikTok star. Pawar also pointed to reports that the BJP was upset at Rathod’s induction in the council of ministers and asked it to come clean on the issue.

Just a day ahead of the session, chief minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday announced a probe into the objectionable act by two of their MLAs — Prakash Surve and Sanjay Bangar — in the last two days. “We will look into the acts by the MLAs and action will be taken if found guilty. The laws are the same for everyone in the state and we will not spare any objectionable act,” he said.

Surve, an MLA from the Shinde camp, had asked his supporters to physically assault Shiv Sainiks in a public gathering recently. “We must not rest till we show them their place. Do not take anyone’s dadagiri (bullying) lying down. If someone challenges you, challenge them back, cut them into pieces. Prakash Surve is sitting here. If you cannot sever their hand, break their legs. I will get you a table bail the next day,” Surve can be heard saying in the video.

In a video that went viral on social media, Sanjay Bangar was seen abusing and slapping a private catering manager for allegedly serving “sub-standard” mid-day meals to workers in Hingoli district.

The Shinde-Fadnavis government had to face much criticism when they decided to empower all the secretaries with quasi-judicial powers.

As Shiv Sena was divided into two factions, the Uddhav Thackeray faction was kept out of the business advisory committee of the state legislature. This may become another reason for friction between legislators from both the factions.

The chief minister also clarified that the government will stay only those decisions that were taken in haste by the previous government. “We will not cancel or stay each and every decision. We will review, if required, stay and if not then their priority of the decision will be determined. No decision of the MVA government will be scrapped out of political vendetta,” Shinde told reporters after the customary tea party at Sahyadri guest house.

Political experts believe that there are many challenges ahead for the present government. “Among the first would be difficulties to be faced by the ministers who are absolutely new to their department. Many of them are yet to take charge of their departments as they were busy with Independence Day celebrations in the respective constituencies. So technically, on the first day of the session they would be taking charge of their departments,” said political analyst Hemant Desai, adding that the session will also be a challenge for the MVA coalition. “The unity and coordination among the opposition allies will indicate if the MVA will last or not,” Desai added.