Ruckus in Maharashtra Legislative Council over 'Budget leak' on Twitter

A ruckus was created in the Upper House i.e. Legislative Council in Maharashtra Assembly on Tuesday when it's Leader of Opposition Dhananjay Munde alleged that the details of the Budget were leaked from the official Twitter account of Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantivar even before it was presented in the House.

The Opposition disrupted the Budget presentation in the Legislative Council by junior Minister Deepak Kesarkar. Maharashtra Legislature is a bicameral legislature, with Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council as two Houses. While Finance Minister Mungantivar presented the Budget in Assembly, Minister of State Kesarkar presented it in the Upper House.

Following the ruckus, Legislative Council Chairman Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar adjourned the House for 10 minutes. However, when it was resumed, BJP's Chandrakant Patil said he would move a no-confidence motion.

"This is the first time in the history of the House that when a Finance Minister is giving his speech he has been interrupted with false allegations... I would like to move a no-confidence motion against the Opposition today," said Patil.

Later on, the Opposition staged a walk-out and Budget was presented in the House without the Opposition being present.

Meantime, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis clarified in the Legislative Assembly that the first tweet was made at 2.16 pm while the Budget speech started at 2 pm. He said that he had not seen any tweet before the start of the Budget speech.

"In Central government Budget and PMO tweets, there is a gap of 2 to 3 minutes. New technology has come and Opposition parties should understand this. This is a misunderstanding by the Opposition party," said Fadnavis in the House.

"The Opposition parties' leaders can target us on Twitter so they must understand this technology. No Budget has been leaked at all, I request them to listen carefully to the second part of the Budget," he added.