Maharashtra governor C. Vidyasagar Rao receives Guard of Honour by Mumbai Police for the first time at Vidhan Bhavan on the first day of the Budget session on Wednesday. (Photo: Rajesh Jadhav)
Maharashtra governor C. Vidyasagar Rao receives Guard of Honour by Mumbai Police for the first time at Vidhan Bhavan on the first day of the Budget session on Wednesday. (Photo: Rajesh Jadhav)
Wednesday saw a couple of new precedents being set with respect to the governor’s address on day one of the Budget session. For one, as governor C. Vidyasagar Rao arrived in the morning for his address to both houses of the state legislature, the ruling BJP and Shiv Sena accorded him a Guard of Honour in the forecourt of Vidhan Bhavan. Secondly, at the end of his address at Vidhan Bhavan’s Central Hall, minister for parliamentary affairs, Girish Bapat, proposed a Vote of Thanks.
Upon arrival, the governor was greeted with a bouquet by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Assembly speaker Haribhau Bagade, council chairman Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar, and Mr Bapat. Later, a contingent of Mumbai police gave him a Guard of Honour and the police band played the National Anthem.
Learning from past experience, this time, a security cordon of women security guards was deployed around the main entrance to prevent opposition members from blocking the Governor from entering Vidhan Bhavan. During last year’s budget session, members of the Congress and Nation-alist Congress Party had tried to thwart the Governor’s entry into Vidhan Bhavan. Even as Mr Bapat proposed a Vote of Thanks for the Governor’s address, his action proved to be another bone of contention between the ruling and opposition parties, with the latter alleging that it was unplanned and the government did not make proper provision for all members.
Raising the issue in the legislative council, leader of opposition, Dhananjay Munde, remarked, “What happened was wrong. If the minister for parliamentary affairs wanted to propose a Vote of Thanks, proper arrangements should have been made. We could not even hear what he (Mr Bapat) said as he did not use a microphone while speaking. This means that his action was impromptu.”
Mr Bapat said that directions to propose a Vote of Thanks had come from the Centre. “Since this is the first time we did it, by that time, all members must have got up. We only did what we were asked to,” he said.
