Mah Council stalled on LoP;Govt won't interfere, says Fadnavis

The stalemate on non-appointment of a Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Council, even ten days after the commencement of the winter session, today intensified when Congress and NCP members again stalled the proceedings seeking an immediate announcement on as to who will occupy the post.
Last week too, after the session began on December 8 here, pandemonium had erupted in the Council over the issue when members demanded that the name of the LoP to be decided at the earliest after the post fell vacant on the resignation of Vinod Tawde following his induction into the state cabinet.

Today, after the Question Hour, NCP State President Sunil Tatkare raised the issue and said the House should function according to the rules and without a LoP.
"The session is underway and there is no LoP. Chief Minister (Devendra Fadnavis) should take a note of it and the announcement of LoP should take place today," he demanded.
To which, the CM said that the matter is under the jurisdiction of the Chairperson.
"I have no authority in this regard. The government won't interfere on this issue. The Chairperson should decide on this," he said.

Earlier today, Manikrao Thakre of Congress too pointed out that the CM should summon a meeting of leaders of both the Houses on the issue and the matter should be immediately resolved.

NCP members took objection to this procedure and said that both Houses are separate.
Amid din, Chairperson Shivajirao Deshmukh assured that he will look into the issue and will try to announce the name of LoP at the earliest.
Not satisfied, NCP members began shouting slogans and entered the Well of the House resulting in a bedlam.
"Give Justice, Give Justice, Chairperson Give Justice", they shouted.
As the members remained firm on their demand, Deshmukh adjourned the House for 15 minutes.
NCP and Congress have already submitted their claims for naming Dhananjay Munde and Manikrao Thakre as the LoP.
NCP is the single largest party with 28 seats while Congress has 22 seats in the 78-member upper house making the Sharad Pawar-led outfit the natural claimant of the post.

Thakre had earlier questioned NCP's claim for the post and sought to know how can the former ally do so when they had declared outside support to the minority BJP government and has also assured them help during the floor test.