Revoke MLA's suspensions, says MNS

The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, on Wednesday, sought to revoke the four year suspension of four of its legislators, saying it had already apologised for any "disrespect" caused to a woman MLA during Monday's mayhem in the Maharastra assembly but made no mention of the assault on Samajwadi Party member Abu Asim Azmi.

Making a statement in the House, MNS group leader Bala Nandgaonkar did not allude to the assault on SP MLA Abu Asim Azmi who was their target for not taking oath in Marathi. "We have always respected the House and will do so. If inadvertently, disrespect was caused to PWP MLA Meenakshi Patil, we have already apologised in the House," he said.

Patil bore the brunt of MNS fury when she tried to intervene during Monday's incident. Nandgaonkar said the suspension should be revoked or at least the tenure of suspension reduced.

Nationalist Congress Party MLA Nawab Malik pointed out that Nandgaonkar had used a Hindi word saza to describe the punishment (Marathi word shiksha) meted out to the four MLAs.