MUMBAI, DECEMBER 12: Despite chinks in the Democratic Front (DF) Government, the three-week winter session of the State Legislature commencing on Monday is unlikely to be stormy owing to a vertical split in the Sena-BJP alliance on drafting a comprehensive strategy against Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.Ever since the swearing in of Vilasrao Deshmukh on October 18, the rift between Shiv Sena and BJP has reached its zenith with the top leaders of the alliance making divergent statements. While Sena chief Bal Thackeray had declared that the Sena-BJP alliance will soon come back to power, BJP leader Gopinath Munde rules out any such a possibility.Significantly, after the Sena-BJP leaders failed to form the government, due to lack of clear majority, former Chief Minister Narayan Rane and Munde have not met even once to draft an action plan for the winter session of the State Legislature. Shiv Sena and BJP have declared separate plans of agitation against the Deshmukh government.``It is true that thedifferences between the Shiv Sena and BJP have reached flash point, since we did not accept Shiv Sena's formula on formation of the government,'' according to a senior BJP leader.BJP will stage state-wide demonstrations to press its demand for better deal for the cotton growers, while top Shiv Sena leaders led by Udhav Thackeray and Rane will march to the council hall for an identical demand. Shiv Sena will emphasise more on deteriorating law and order situation and remunerative prices for cotton. On the law and order situation, Shiv Sena is all set to target Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, who also holds the home portfolio.``We will take the government to task on the deteriorating law and order situation, particularly the sudden spurt in the incidents of communal violence all over the State and increase in the number of murders in the metropolis. We feel that the DF government has failed completely to tackle the situation,'' Rane said.During the Sena-BJP rule, the State was completelyriot-free, now after Deshmukh took over the reigns, a record number of six major communal riots were witnessed in sensitive parts of the State. ``I feel that the new government was unable to tackle such a situation. It owes an explanation to the legislature as to why the law and order machinery has collapsed,'' Rane said.Shiv Sena will also oppose the State Government's decision to revive minorities commission and set up an autonomous financial corporation for the Muslims. ``Shiv Sena's policy on Muslims is very clear. We have high regards and respect for the nationalist Muslims. Apparently, the policy of the front government is to appease the members of the minority communities. If the Chief Minister is so keen on the welfare of the Muslims, he should first implement the recommendations of the Minorities Commission in letter and spirit and then speak of setting up another commission,'' Rane added.On the cotton prices, Rane said the new government has virtually cheated the cotton growers by reversingthe policy decision of the erstwhile government on varieties of cotton. ``We had only two types of cotton. Now, they have added four new names to the list and as such, less than one per cent of the cotton growers will get the maximum support price of Rs 2300,'' Rane added.Another highlight of the session is likely to be a debate on the white paper on the State's economy and the resolution likely to be moved by Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Nitin Gadkari on the foreigners issue.Though both Deshmukh as well as Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal had declared that the white paper on economy mainly to expose the erstwhile alliance government will be introduced in the session, Finance and Planning Minister Jayant Patil is not sure. ``We are trying our best to present the paper. Certainly, there has been delay owing to absence of two senior officials of the finance department,'' he said.Notwithstanding Deshmukh as well as Patil's desire, officials of the finance department feel that in theevent the paper is presented, it will adversely affect the impage of the state. ``If the paper is presented, we feel that further investments in the State will come to a grinding halt,'' a senior official of the finance department said.Even on the foreigner's bill, BJP is likely to ask Gadkari to go slow, since the party is yet to take a decision at the national level. Initially, Gadkari's idea was to embarrass the Congress as well as the Nationalist Congress Party on the issue, but now since Union Minister Pramod Mahajan himself stated it was not an appropriate time for the purpose, Gadkari will either drop the proposal or amend it suitably.
