Shinde faction, opposition MLAs come to blows at Maha assembly

Scuffles broke out between the legislators of the ruling alliance and opposition on the premises of the Maharashtra legislature during the ongoing monsoon session on Wednesday.

The unprecedented episode, which began with slogan-shouting on the steps to the Vidhan Bhavan in south Mumbai around 11:30 am, saw legislators from the two sides pushing and shoving each other.

MLAs and MLCs of the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and its alliance partner BJP staged a protest on the steps, shouting slogans against Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and his son Aaditya.

Soon Nationalist Congress Party's legislators turned up, shouting slogans and carrying carrots which apparently symbolized the inducements which had allegedly led the Shinde faction to join hands with the BJP to bring down the Uddhav Thackeray government in June.

Some MLAs from the Shinde faction tried to snatch the carrots from their hands, raising tensions.

Mahesh Shinde, MLA from the Eknath Shinde faction, and the NCP's Member of Legislative Council Amol Mitkari almost came to blows before other legislators separated them.

Scuffles also broke out between other legislators.

NCP MLA Rohit Pawar and Shinde faction's MLA Pratap Sarnaik were seen pushing each other.

Legislators of the ruling alliance carried banners with messages alleging corruption in the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, controlled by the Thackeray-led Sena before its term ended.

The Thackerays compromised on Hindutva for power, they alleged.

The banners also mocked Uddhav Thackeray for operating from home when he was chief minister during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bharat Gogawale, an MLA from the Shinde camp, told reporters that opposition legislators need not have come near them when they were staging the protest.

"They started arguing first. When they protested all these days, we did not interfere," he said.

After some more sloganeering, legislators eventually returned to their respective Houses.

Senior Congress leader and MLA Balasaheb Thorat described the scenes that played out on the legislature premises as unfortunate.

"After seeing the ruling MLAs clash with the opposition, farmers who were hoping for assistance have been left disappointed," he told reporters.

"It is the opposition's right to protest, the behaviour of ruling MLAs was unfortunate, " he said.

"Instead of apologizing for what happened today, some MLAs of the ruling party are proudly saying they did push opposition MLAs and will do it again. Maharashtra has seen many agitations, but it never came to raining blows on each other," the former minister added.

Yashomati Thakur, another Congress legislator, alleged that opposition legislators were being intimidated. "It may spill on to the streets. I hope we don't see a Sri Lanka-like situation here," she said.