Opposition stalls both Houses on loan waiver

The Opposition combine of Shiv Sena-BJP on Tuesday forced the adjournment of both the Houses of state legislature for a day on the issue of total loan waiver for farmers.

The Opposition parties have threatened that they would not allow the house to function till the government agrees to their demand.

Heated exchanges were witnessed between the ruling coalition and the Opposition combine as soon as the question hour began.

The Opposition demanded the suspension of question hour and immediate discussions on the issue of loan waiver. The Sena-BJP members were wearing saffron caps and shirts printed with anti-government slogans which riled the ruling party.

Speaker Babasaheb Kupekar had to adjourn the Assembly for 15 minutes initially. When the House assembled again, senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde was allowed to speak on why adjournment motion should be taken up immediately by suspending the question hour.

Lashing out on the ruling coalition, Munde said, "This government came to power on the assurance of giving loan waiver and free electricity to farmers. It's three years now but the assurances have not been fulfilled."

Pandemonium broke again with the Opposition members trooping to the well with their demand. This led to the second adjournment.

Subsequently, when the House reassembled for the third and final time, the Opposition members forced the adjournment of the Assembly for the day as both chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and deputy chief minister RR Patil were not present in the House.

However, a senior minister claimed that both the Opposition and the ruling combine had made a truce and the issue will be discussed tomorrow.