Guard of Honour for Guv ahead of joint address to Legislature

Setting new precedent, ruling BJP and Shiv Sena today accorded a Guard of Honour to Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao in the forecourt of Vidhan Bhavan as he arrived there this morning for his joint address to both the houses of the State Legislature on the first day of the Budget session.
As the Governor arrived, he was greeted by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Assembly Speaker Haribhau Bagade, Council Chairman Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Girish Baat with a bouquet.
Later, a contingent of Mumbai Police gave him the Guard of Honor and the Police Band played the National Anthem.

Having learnt lessons from last year's budget session when Opposition Congress and NCP members had tried to block the Governor's entry into the Vidhan Bhavan, a security cordon of women security guards was deployed around the main entrance to prevent any Opposition members from blocking Governor entering the Vidhan Bhavan.
Another new precedent that was set today was that at the end of the Governor's joint address to both the houses of the State Legislature at Vidhan Bhavans Central Hall, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Girish Bapat proposed a Vote of Thanks for the Governor's address.
Bapat's action proved to be another bone of contention between the ruling and Opposition parties, with the latter alleging that his Vote of Thanks was impromptu and that the government did not make proper provisions for all the members.

"What happened was wrong. If the Parliamentary Affairs minister wanted to propose a Vote of Thanks, proper arrangements should have been made. We could not even hear what he (Bapat) said as he did not use a mike while speaking. This means that this action of his was impromptu," LoP in the Legislative Council, Dhananjay Munde said.
Responding to his charge, Bapat said that directions to propose a Vote of Thanks had come from the Centre.
"The proposal of Vote of Thanks had come from the Centre and we only followed it. We only did what we were asked to," he said.