Statement ordered on Cong MLA8217;s assault

He said five police officers were also injured in the stone pelting. Congress members were immediately on their feet objecting to the absence of any reference to the attack on Congress MLA Ashok Mohol in the minister8217;s statement.

When the Chief Minister tried to explain that the motion had not mentioned the Mohol incident, the Congress MLAs tried to shout him down.

The speaker then clarified that the motion did mention the incident and directed the Government to make a statement on the same.

SCHOOL ADMISSIONS: The Chief Minister told the Assembly that the Government had issued orders to schools to admit students from outside only after accommodating students on their own rolls. He was replying to a calling attention motion raised among others by R R Patil of the Congress.

Education Minister Sudhir Joshi told the House that the Government had altered the rules so that a complaint of donations asked or sought could now be made directly to the court. He also said the Government would have such a complaint investigated if it was made in writing. Another member, Pandurang Dhole JD alleged that he had sent the Government one such complaint last year with the evidence but no steps had been taken to inquire into the matter. The Chief Minister then told the House that the Bombay High Court had given two orders recently: one was to admit students on merit and, very recently, the High Court had clarified that students from the same school must be admitted first and the rest of the students must be taken in on merit. Hence the Government had issued orders to that effect two days ago.

COTTON MONOPOLY SCHEME: The Government had not paid cotton growers the third instalment for the 1996-97 winter crop, several members alleged through a calling attention motion in the Assembly. They said the delay in payment a total of Rs 650 crore had caused losses and cotton farmers were now investing in other crops.

Minister for Cooperation Jayprakash Mundada said the amount yet to be disbursed was only Rs 360.01 crore and it was being done on a weekly basis. The Opposition was, however, not satisfied and walked out demanding that the farmers be paid interest on the amount.

State Congress resents Joshi8217;s threat

A statement by Maharashtra Chief Minister, Manohar Joshi, amounting to a threat of 8220;demolishing the Congress8221; was raised in the state legislative council today with the clear intention of embarrassing the Shiv Sena. The chief minister8217;s statement which was telecast on Doordarshan on Monday was taken as an open threat to the Congress. Joshi had said his government would 8220;demolish those who had been taking law in their own hands and hindering government efforts to maintain order8221;.

He was supposed to have been referring to Congress MLA from Nagpur, Anees Ahmed, who had taken out a morcha protesting against unemployment and price rise. According to the government the morcha had turned violent forcing the police to lathi charge. The issue was discussed in the assembly on Monday at the end of which the opposition staged a walk out while the chief minister made his controversial statement. He had repeated the same statement on Doordarshan later.

Raising the issue during zero hour, Congress leader Chhagan Bhujbal demanded an explanation from the chief minister. Supporting Bhujbal, D B Patil of PWP demanded an apology from the chief minister. However, the chairperson, Jaiwantrao Tilak, refused to grant the demand, prompting the opposition to stage a walk-out.