Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis introduced a confidence motion in favour of Speaker Haribhau Bagde in the state Assembly on Friday. The motion, seconded by Shiv Sena minister Eknath Shinde, was passed by voice vote.
However, the Opposition parties, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party, expressed disappointment at the turn of events, The Indian Express reported.
“We had brought a no-confidence motion against the Speaker on March 5,” Leader of the Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil said. “We expected them to take up and allow a debate on the same. We are not contesting their majority. But we should have been given the right to air our grievances against the speaker.”
Vikhe-Patil added that as per the rules, the speaker has to read out the notice after 14 days of its submission and ask 29 members of the House to support it, The Hindu reported.
However, Fadnavis said the government’s decision to bring a confidence motion was in accordance with the rights guaranteed under the Constitution. “In 2006, former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh had brought a confidence motion and got it passed without the Opposition’s consent,” he said. The BJP, which was then in the Opposition, had moved a no-confidence motion against the government.
Senior NCP leader Dilip Walse-Patil said the Opposition would press the no-confidence motion on Monday. He claimed that Fadnavis’ example from 2006 was not valid as the Opposition’s motion back then was against the government.
Walse-Patil claimed that the Congress-NCP’s no-confidence motion against Bagde would stay even though the government had passed a confidence motion.
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