Missed chance to expose govt'

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government managed to sail smoothly through a stormy winter session of the state legislature, especially when confronted with issues such as Maratha reservation, drought management and allegations against ministers.

Meanwhile, an incompetent and clueless Opp-osition failed to corner the government. On Friday, both houses were adjourned sine die till the next session in February.

The Opposition launched an attack on the state government with a poster depicting chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray as main protagonists in the recent Bollywood film, Thugs of Hindos-tan. However, the aggre-ssion didn’t last even on first day of the session.

The Nationalist Congress Party’s Ajit Pawar told the government not to present the report of the backward class commission on the backwardness of the Maratha community. The government did not table the report till the end. Mr Pawar took a U-turn and demanded that the report be tabled. However, by then, the Opposition attack had lost steam.

The state government proceeded to present the action-taken report on the backward commission’s report and later, the bill, which was unanimously passed.

Another major issue of the drought saw just a discussion. The Oppo-sition was expected to tear through the government’s defence but the discussion took pla-ce on Thursday when the Maratha reservation bill was passed by the houses. The state government then shifted the focus from the drought to other issues.

The Opposition also failed to capitalise corruption allegation agai-nst cooperative minister Subhash Deshmukh.

A senior Congress MLA said, “The CM ignored us, as he has understood the Opposit-ion’s capacity to stretch any issue to its logical end. It was the last session before the general election and we lost an opportunity to expose the government.”