Five Congress MLAs suspended from assembly for heckling governor

Governor C Vidyasagar Rao and two senior officers of state assembly were injured in an incident involving these MLAs

The Maharashtra Assembly on Wednesday passed a resolution to suspend five Congress legislators — Rahul Bondre, Abdul Sattar, Amar Kale, Virendra Jagtap and Jaikumar Gore — for allegedly heckling the state Governor C Vidyasagar Rao.

The legislators have been suspended for up to two years. The resolution was moved by the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prakash Mehta after Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse deplored the legislators’ behaviour and demanded an apology.

Khdase informed the House that the Governor was injured as were two senior officers of the Assembly after being allegedly heckled by the Congress legislators.

He demanded an unconditional apology from the legislators. Khadse said if they failed to tender an apology he would be forced to move a resolution recommending their suspension.

As the Governor made his way into the legislature on Wednesday evening to address to both the Houses, Congress and Sena MLAs blocked his way, making it difficult for him to climb the stairs. They were protesting against the manner in which the trust vote was moved and passed by the Devendra Fadnavis government on the floor of the House.

Congress legislators also shouted slogans during the Governor’s address to the joint session and later staged a walk out.

The Assembly, which met after the Governor’s address, adjourned twice after Khadse reiterated that Congress should tender an apology.

BJP legislator Girish Bapat announced that a committee headed by the Assembly Speaker Haribhau Bagde, comprising legislators from other parties, will watch the video tapes of the heckling of the Governor and recommend suitable action. The committee will submit its report during the winter session of the Assembly, slated to begin on December 8 in Nagpur.