Ruckus in Council over "assault" on Mete; Oppn stalls proceedings

Though the treasury benches refused to admit the incident, Opposition members refused to continue with the proceedings of the Upper House demanding Shinde’s suspension.

Pro-tem Chairman B T Deshmukh announced that he would conduct an inquiry into the matter before taking a decision on the Opposition’s demand to suspend Shinde.

The dramatic developments started moments after the House assembled at 1 pm and theroutine question hour was about to start. Before the pro-tem chairman could start proceedings for the day, Leader of the Opposition Chhagan Bhujbal raised a point of propriety about the resignation of Shiv Sena Minister of State for Energy, Suresh Navale. Waving a photocopy of Navale’s resignation letter, Bhujbal asked if the minister had resigned and if so, under what circumstances?

“Yesterday, the minister had stated that he was threatened at his official residence that he would be shot dead. Today, he has forwarded his resignation to the Chief Minister. The House must know the position of the minister and the Chief Minister should make a statement to this effect,” Bhujbal said. Vasant Chavan, Ranjit Deshmukh and Arun Mehta (all Congress) supported Bhujbal.

The Opposition members gathered in the well and stopped the proceedings by shouting slogans. In the absence of Manohar Joshi, his deputy Gopinath Munde told the members that the Cabinet had decided to sack Navale and was only waiting for GovernorDr P C Alexander’s approval for the same.

The pro-tem chairman had to adjourn the House for 15 minutes as Munde’s statement failed to calm down the angry Opposition members.

When the House reassembled after the break, Bhujbal read out the copy of the resignation which once again created chaos in the House over a line in Navale’s letter about his caste and the Maratha community.

The Opposition members almost gheraoed the chairman and Mete used his microphone to shout slogans. Mete was heard saying “down with the people insulting the Maratha community.”

Hearing this Shinde, Arvind Sawant, Ravindra Mirlekar, Prakash Deole and Neela Desai (all Sena members) rushed towards the chairman asking him to take action on Mete.

The chairman adjourned the House once again and Mete, with other Opposition members, was returning to the seat. Shinde blocked Mete’s way and started arguing with him over the issue.

All of a sudden, he seemed to lose his calm resulting in the action, which members said amounted tomanhandling Mete. He then ran back to his seat. This fuelled the agitating Opposition members who went to the chairman’s cabin to complain.

The pro-tem chairman said the incident was serious and he would listen to one member from both the sides to know factual details before taking a decision.

Janata Dal member Vyamkappa Patki said, “I heard Mete shouting that slogan. Later, Mete and myself were returning to our seat when Shinde and four others blocked the way.

Shinde asked Mete what did he say about the senior saheb (Bal Thackeray), to which the latter replied that he said nothing about anyone. Then, Shinde hit Mete on the chest. I pulled Mete away from Shinde and took him to chairman’s cabin.”

Water Supply and Cleanliness Minister Anna Dange said, “Mete was shouting slogans. Five Sena members were talking to Mete and Shinde was waving his hands while talking. But Shinde did not hit Mete and the Opposition members are lying about the incident.”

The chairman did not allow Mete to narrate theincident.

Even as the chaos continued, the House was adjourned for the day without any decision being taken on the issue.