MLAs lifted Speaker's mace as last resort: NCP

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Tuesday said the Opposition MLAs lifted the Speaker's mace in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly as the "last resort" because the state government didn't take note of the issues such as drought and the Maratha quota raised by them.

NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad also said that Speaker Haribhau Bagde should have adjourned the proceedings immediately after the incident.

Noisy scenes were witnessed in the Assembly on the second day of the Winter Session when the members of the Congress and the NCP lifted the mace and tore papers while demanding that the report of the state backward classes commission on the Maratha quota be tabled immediately.

"Lifting of mace is an insult to sovereignty of the House. Opposition legislators lift the mace as a last resort when their demands are not heard.

"Today, the Opposition members raised serious issues like the government's approach regardingreservations and drought," Awhad told reporters.

He said the proceedings of the House continued for 10-15 minutes even after the mace was lifted.

"This is the insult of theSpeaker's maceand to sovereignty of the House. This attitude of the government is a blot on democracy," he alleged.