12 BJP MLAs in Maharashtra disqualified for one year for abusing speaker

They were suspended for "misbehaving" with presiding officer Bhaskar Jadhav in the Speaker's chamber

Twelve BJP MLAs were suspended from the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for one year after the state government accused them of "misbehaving" with presiding officer Bhaskar Jadhav in the Speaker's chamber on Monday.

The motion to suspend the MLAs was moved by state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anil Parab and passed by a voice vote.

The 12 suspended members are- Sanjay Kute, Ashish Shelar, Abhimanyu Pawar, Girish Mahajan, Atul Bhatkhalkar, Parag Alavani, Harish Pimpale, Yogesh Sagar, Jay Kumar Rawat, Narayan kuche, Ram Satpute and Bunty Bhangdia.

Parab said during the period of suspension, the 12 legislators will not be allowed to enter the Legislature premises in Mumbai and Nagpur.

Objecting to the decision, BJP members, led by Devendra Fadnavis, said the opposition would boycott the House proceedings.

"This is a false allegation and an attempt to reduce the numbers of opposition benches, because we exposed the government's falsehood on the OBC quota in local bodies," Fadnavis said.

He said the BJP members had not abused the presiding officer. "It was Shiv Sena MLAs who used abusive words. I brought our MLAs out of the Speaker's chamber," the leader of opposition said.

Ashish Shelar apologised and the matter ended, the former CM said, claiming that what Jadhav said was a "one-sided" account.

Earlier, NCP leader and minister Nawab Malik accused the BJP members of misbehaving with Bhaskar Jadhav and the state Assembly was adjourned four times over the issue.