Oppn targets Fadnavis govt as Maha session begins

The Monsoon Session of Maharashtra Legislature got off to a noisy start today with Congress-NCP opposition targeting the BJP-led government over allegations faced by Woman and Child Development Minister Pankaja Munde and Education Minister Vinod Tawde by shouting slogans and singing nursery rhymes.
Opposition legislators, led by Opposition Leader in the Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil (Congress) and his Legislative Council counterpart Dhanajay Munde (NCP), greeted Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis by shouting slogans at the entrance of legislature building.
Besides raising corruption charges against Munde, they also sought to corner the government over the farm sector crisis.
"How many more sacrifices of farmers do you need ?" read one of the banners which the opposition legislators carried.

Later, the opposition members sang nursery rhyme "Johnny Johnny... Yes Papa", alluding to procurement of a set of items, including "chikki" (a popular snack) for Anganwadis without calling e-tenders by Child and Woman Department presided over by Munde.
The opposition had alleged that Munde cleared the contract for purchases running to a whopping Rs 206 crore without calling e-tenders.

Tawde is under attack over alleged discrepancies relating to his academic background in documents submitted to the Election Commission and procedural irregularities relating to a shelved proposal to buy fire extinguishers for schools.
Shashikant Shinde (NCP) led the protest by shouting slogans like "Pankaja Pankaja...Yes Papa...Eating Chikki... Yes Papa", "Vinod Vinod...Bogus Degree...Yes Papa" and "Lonikar Lonikar...Do Baika (two wives)...Haha Ha"

Congress had also alleged that Water Supply and Sanitation Minister Babanrao Lonikar has two wives but had concealed it in documents submitted to the Election Commission.
Fadnavis had rejected the demand for loan waiver, holding that such a scheme introduced in 2008 did not bring benefit to farmers.
Ahead of the session, estranged former allies Congress and NCP had joined hands and worked out common strategies to attack the Fadnavis government in both the Houses.