Maharashtra curtails monsoon session causing BJP protests

The Maharashtra government on Monday decided to curtail the monsoon session of the assembly and hold it for just two days citing Covid concerns. This would be the third time under the MVA that an assembly session has been curtailed to just two days. As expected, the BJP opposed the move and claimed that the state government was trying to avoid answering questions using pandemic as an excuse.

During the Business Advisory Committee meeting on Tuesday, which decides the programme and agenda for the session starting on July 5, former CM Devendra Fadnavis and other BJP leaders objected to the government’s plan and walked out of the meeting.

Barring the budget session, which was held for just 10 days, the winter and last year’s monsoon session were held only for two days each. For the current session, the state has decided to suspend the question hour as well as the facilities of submitting written questions and the calling attention motion.


State BJP released a statement: “Whenever the assembly session is to be held, the government claims Covid cases are increasing. The Covid situation is serious and we are ready to cooperate. But while it allows thousands of people to attend the inauguration of party offices, it is not ready to allow holding of an assembly session.” The reference was to the inauguration of party offices by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar in Pune recently which saw hundreds of party workers violating all Covid norms.

Fadnavis and other BJP leaders walked out of the house panel meet in protest against the decision.