Maha Council adjourned over farm loan waiver issue

The farm loan waiver issue again rocked the Maharashtra Legislative Council today with the Opposition members creating a ruckus over their demand, leading to adjournment of the proceedings for the day.
Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Council Dhananjay Munde dubbed the suspension of 19 Opposition members from the state Assembly as "murder of democracy."
Earlier, 19 Opposition MLAs from the Congress and the NCP were today suspended from the state Assembly for nine months for creating ruckus during the Budget presentation in the House last week.
The Opposition members had disrupted the Budget presentation by Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar in the Assembly on March 18 demanding farm loan waiver.

As soon as Council Chairman Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar called out for Question Hour to commence today, Munde drew the attention of the Chair to the adjournment motion moved by the Opposition over the loan waiver issue.
He argued that the motion be admitted.

"The farmers at least expected the government to write off the interest on loans," he said.
Munde said Union Agriculture Minister Radhamohan Singh had categorically said that the Centre would grant loan waiver only to farmers of Uttar Pradesh and not of any other state.
"The same stand of the Centre was repeated by Union Minister for Urban Development Venkaiah Naidu when state Public Transport Minister Diwakar Raote called on him to demand loan waiver for farmers in Maharashtra," he claimed.

Munde said the BJP-led Maharashtra government, however, is saying that it would grant loan waiver to the farmers with the help of the Central government.
He tried to highlight the plight of a farmer who, he claimed, has offered to sell his three children to the government to overcome financial crisis.
The LoP also accused the government of cheating the farmers by not making adequate allocation for them in the state budget.
"The Opposition is in no mood to let the House transact any business for the day till the government announces a complete loan waiver for the farmers," Munde said.

"The government's stand is clear. It does not want to give loan waiver to farmers."
Munde's demand for loan waiver was supported by
Congress MLC Sharad Ranpise.
Intervening in the proceedings, state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Girish Bapat said the government was ready for a debate on all issues raised by the Opposition.
He criticised the Opposition members for stalling the House proceedings for last 10 days over loan waiver issue.
Bapat urged the Chair to get on with the business before the House.
However, as the ruckus by Opposition members continued, the Chairman adjourned the House for the day.