Days after Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari's letter -- rooting for certain issues raised by the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -- addressed to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, the latter has penned a polite rebuff on Friday, 2 July.
In his letter dated 24 June, Governor Koshyari had presented some points raised by Opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis, namely, to extend the duration of the Assembly session, to kick off the process to appoint the House Speaker and had stated that due to delay in OBC reservations, the elections of Sthaniya Swarajya Sansthas should not be held.
In response to the governor's one-page letter, which had been released on 30 June, CM Thackeray has sent a three-page long missive, replying to each of the points raised by Fadnavis for consideration by the government.
The chief minister wrote that the decision to hold a brief two-day Monsoon Session was taken by the Business Advisory Committee of the Legislature, taking into consideration the prevailing COVID-19 situation in the state and experts' advice on the same, reported IANS.
Similarly, he said that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government was keen to hold the election for the post of Speaker, which has been lying vacant since February 2021, but it could not be done on account of the pandemic. He also pointed out that the speaker's duties are being handled by Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal, under whose leadership, the budget session was also completed recently.
Therefore, without the Speaker, no constitutional problem has come up so far, Thackeray pointed out. Moreover, he wrote that all the members are required to be present during the election of the speaker, and in view of the pandemic, the speaker's election will be called only after completing all the procedures.
Lastly, Thackeray said that he is concerned about OBCs and he had gone to Delhi a few days ago to meet Prime Minister Modi too and requested him to solve the issue. He has also sought the governor's help in resolving the pending issue of the OBC quotas with the Centre, saying that it would enable the Maharashtra government to initiate appropriate steps in this regard.
(With inputs from IANS)
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