Governor mandated to accept cabinet recommendations: Sanjay Raut

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Monday said it is mandatory for a governor to accept recommendations of the state cabinet, a day after a delegation of the Maharashtra government met Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to seek his approval for holding the Assembly Speaker's election during the ongoing winter session of the legislature.

Talking to reporters here, Raut said, "Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari studies a lot. So much study is not good in a democracy. What matters is listening to the voice of the people."

"It is mandatory for the governor to accept recommendations of the cabinet," said the Rajya Sabha member, whose party shares power with the NCP and Congress in Maharashtra.

State Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde (of Shiv Sena), Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat (Congress) and Food and Civil Supplies Minister Chhagan Bhujbal (NCP) met the governor at the Raj Bhavan here on Sunday evening.

Later, Thorat said they handed over to Koshyari a letter written by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, seeking his approval for the election schedule for the speaker's post.

"The governor sought details of the amendments to the legislative rules about holding the election through voice vote instead of ballot. He said he will discuss and seek more information from legal experts and convey his decision by tomorrow," the Congress leader said.

Shinde said the change in procedure of holding the speaker's election was done as per the rules and they were confident that the governor would give his approval soon.

The winter session of the state legislature began on December 22 and will end on December 28.

The Assembly speaker's post has been lying vacant since February this year after Nana Patole resigned to take charge as the state Congress chief.

After the meeting with Koshyari on Sunday, Thorat and Shinde said the governor neither discussed the issue of suspension of 12 BJP MLAs from the Assembly (during the previous monsoon session) nor talked about the long-pending nomination of 12 members to the Legislative Council from the governor's quota.