Stormy winter session for Maharashtra Assembly

The winter session of the Maharashtra legislature, beginning on Wednesday, is likely to be stormy. Opposition parties are preparing to attack the state government on various newsy issues — the Adarsh housing scam, alleged violation of green norms by Lavasa and its links, damage to kharif crops by unseasonal rain and burgeoning Naxalite activities.

It is also the first-ever legislature session for new chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, who has never been elected to either the state assembly or council since he entered active politics in 1991.

“More and more revelations are being made in the Adarsh scam. Important papers missing is the latest and quite serious. The government will have to assure the house the guilty will be punished and there will not be any interference in the ongoing investigations,” a senior Congress minister told Business Standard. Some action was also required against bureaucrats in the matter, he said.

As for Lavasa, the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance has already fired several salvoes at Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar for his alleged links here. Pawar and his party have denied any connection with the project.

As for rain damage to crops in various districts, the Shiv Sena has already demanded Rs10,000 per hectare compensation; others want more. There is damage estimated to standing crop on a million hectares. The government has already instructed divisional commissioners and district collectors to do a comprehensive assessment of the damage. “One thing is clear; the government’s decision is not going to satisfy the opposition,” an NCP minister noted.

Further, increasing Naxalite activities in the border districts of Chandrapur and Gadchiroli are a matter of serious concern. Everyone is going to question the government on the strategy.

A BJP leader said the opposition would grill the government on its failure to meet its promises made after the terrorist attack on Mumbai two years earlier. “The government has not yet revealed what happened to the bullet-proof jacket of the late joint commissioner, Hemant Karkare. Coastal security is still neglected. We also want a speedy end to the trial against Ajmal Kasab (the sole survivor of the terrorist squad),” he said.