The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly saw the Shiv Sena and its rival? the Raj Thackeray led MNS- team up to seek action against Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi for his alleged remarks against Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray. Later, pro-tem Speaker Ganpatrao Deshmukh ordered an inquiry by the principal secretary of the state legislature into the incidents that had taken place in the House and its precincts.
Incidentally, Azmi was not present in the Assembly even as the Opposition forced three adjournments on the issue. Reacting to an editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamna on him being assaulted by MNS legislators for taking oath in Hindi, Azmi who was speaking to reporters in the legislature premises on Tuesday, had allegedly made derogatory references to the Sena supremo.
As the state Assembly met on Wednesday, Shiv Sena MLAs rushed to the well of the House shouting slogans against Azmi and unfurling banners demanding his arrest and suspension. MNS leaders later joined the sloganeering by the Sena- BJP members.
Later, leader of the Opposition Eknath Khadse (BJP) pointed to statements made in the Assembly premises by Azmi and added that the platform should not have been used for it.
Khadse said the statements were leading to unrest across the state and alleged that some television visuals had shown Azmi pointing to his shoes before being attacked by MNS men. Khadse said Azmi?s son who was in the gallery had also hurled abuses at members after his father was assaulted and questioned why no action had been taken against father and son.
Shiv Sena group leader Subhash Desai charged that Azmi had misused the Assembly premises by making such statements there and sought strict action. MNS group leader Bala Nandgaonkar said the Sena chief was respected by lakhs of people and pointed out that if the Sena MLAs had supported the MNS (on the day of the incident), Azmi would not have been emboldened to allegedly speak out against Thackeray. Nandgaonkar also alleged that the action taken against the four suspended MNS MLAs was ?one-sided?.
Deshmukh said the principal secretary of the state legislature would conduct an inquiry into the happenings in the House and its precincts and submit a report to the speaker. The speaker would decide on the action to be taken. Chief minister Ashok Chavan said the state government would inquire into events that had taken place outside the House premises and inform the House and added that the state would not tolerate anyone inflaming sentiments.
Azmi, when contacted, said, ?I don?t want any violence… I want peace. They (Sena and MNS MLAs) may have stopped my car or tried to insult me, therefore I preferred to stay away from the Assembly.? He said he had not made any derogatory reference to Bal Thackeray.
