Nineteen Opposition MLAs of the Maharashtra Assembly has been suspended by the Speaker till 31 December for creating a ruckus during the Budget announcement on 18 March, ANI reported.
As State Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar presented his Budget, the opposition raised the demand for the government to waive off farmer loans.
Later, the members of the opposition also made a bonfire of Budget copies to protest against the “directionless” Budget, Zee News reported.
Bapat said the Opposition MLAs had conducted themselves in a "disgraceful and unconstitutional manner".
He said everybody had the right to express themselves but setting the state Budget copy on fire outside the House had never happened.
The members were being suspended for displaying banners, playing cymbals, shouting slogans and disrespecting the Speaker's directions, he added.
The MLAs suspended are Amar Kale, Vijay Waddetiwar, Harshwardhan Sakpal, Abdul Sattar, DP Sawant, Sangram Thopte, Amit Zanak, Kunal Patil, Jaikumar Gore (all from Congress) besides Bhaskar Jadhav, Jitendra Awhad, Madhusudan Kendre, Sangram Jagtap, Avdhut Tatkare, Deepak Chavan, Datta Bharne, Narhari Jirval, Vaibhav Pichad and Rahul Jagtap from the NCP.
Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil said the government can suspend all the Opposition MLAs, but they will continue to raise farmers' issues.
(With inputs from PTI)
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