Oppn boycotts CM’s tea-party, stormy session ahead

MUMBAI: Highlighting the failure of the Democratic Front (DF) government on multiple counts, the opposition Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance, Maharashtra

Navnirman Sena (MNS) and other parties, on Sunday boycotted the customary tea-party hosted by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on the eve of the monsoon session of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.

The boycott is a clear signal to the troubled State government that a stormy three weeks are ahead of it.

The meeting of the Opposition parties was called at the residence of the Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, Eknath Khadse (BJP), who said that they intended to corner the government on the issue of the attack on underworld gangster Abu Salem inside the Taloja Jail in Navi Mumbai.

“The State government has virtually gone back on all its promises. The incident of firing at Salem indicates the level of security in prisons of Maharashtra. Last year, Indian Mujahideen operative Qateel Siddiqui was strangulated in Yerwada Jail of Pune and then Home Minister RR Patil had claimed to have reviewed all security measures but it seems nothing has been done,” Khadse said in a press conference.

The Opposition has also promised to highlight the incidents of collapse of buildings in and around Mumbai, which so far have killed more than 100 people.

Khadse promised to corner the State government on the issue of the Adarsh Housing Society scam involving the Urban Development department. “The 700-page final report on the scam was submitted in a sealed cover to the State government, however, the government has not tabled it before the Legislative Assembly as the commission's interim report has given findings on the alleged complicity of former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and bureaucrats, accused of granting undue favours to the society,” Khadse said.

Calling the Congress-NCP government "thick-skinned", Opposition leaders criticised them for their apathy towards critical public issues and vowed to hold them accountable. Among the issues the Opposition plans to raise include the rates charged at various toll nakas, Local Body Tax, CRZ violations, the Jaitapur Nuclear plant and the alleged irrigation scam.