Thaindian News

Mumbai, July 12 (IANS) Eight months after the Maharashtra legislature suspended four Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) legislators for attacking a Samajwadi Party (SP) leader, the house Monday revoked their suspension.

The four legislators - Shishir Shinde, Ram Kadam (both elected from Mumbai), Ramesh Vanjale of Pune and Vasant Gite of Nashik - will attend the assembly from Tuesday, a party office bearer said.

They were suspended amidst pandemonium in the assembly Nov 9 last year after SP legislator Abu Asim Azmi took the oath as a member in Hindi.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Bhaskar Jadhav moved a resolution Monday afternoon seeking revocation of the four-year suspension of the four legislators which was passed by a voice vote.

The minister added that the MNS group leader in the house Bala Nandgaonkar had also submitted a letter tendering an apology for the incident and assuring of good behaviour in the future.

Leader of opposition and Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Eknath Khadse demanded an explanation from the government on what he claimed was a “package deal” with the MNS to ensure the revocation of suspension of the four legislators.

Senior BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar alleged that the government was indulging in political blackmail, but Chief Minister Ashok Chavan rejected the opposition charges.

Referring to the oft-repeated allegations that the MNS legislators reportedly voted in favour of the ruling Congres-Nationalist Congress Party candidates in last month’s by-elections to the legislative council, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harshvardhan Patil pointed out that the biennial elections were conducted by a secret ballot and nobody knew who voted for whom.

When Azmi sought permission to speak on this issue, the Speaker Dilip Walse-Patil declined, following which he and his colleagues staged a walkout from the house.

Incidentally, even MNS president Raj Thackeray last month indicated a deal had been struck with the government to get the suspension of his party legislators revoked.

Thackeray’s statements came in the midst of allegations by the Shiv Sena that money-power was behind the defeat of its candidate Anil Parab and the victory of the Congress-supported independent candidate Vijay Sawant in the legislative council polls.

“Cancellation of suspension of our legislators is of paramount importance to me as we consider their continued suspension as injustice to the people who elected them,” Thackeray said.

Responding to the Sena allegations, Thackeray said the MNS was not bound by or tied to any party.

“My party is an independent party, whom to vote for or not is our individual decision. Nobody has the right to advise us what to do or not to do,” he said.