Mr Aney had said that there should be a referendum on separate Vidarbha
Mr Aney had said that there should be a referendum on separate Vidarbha
Assembly speaker on Tuesday rejected the breach of privilege motion moved by the Shiv Sena against advocate general Shrihari Aney. Shiv Sena demanded that either Mr Aney apologise for his comments regarding a separate Vidarbha or he should be sacked. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said the government would make a statement on the issue after taking complete information.
The privilege motion was moved by Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik, who said that by speaking in favour of a separate Vidarbha despite being advocate general of the state, Mr Aney has insulted the entire state of Maharashtra. “He has accepted the responsibility to be the advocate general. As the advocate general, he cannot express views that are contrary to the state’s policy. Separate Vidarbha is not the state’s official policy,” Mr Sarnaik said.
The Sena MLA also demanded that Mr Aney be summoned before the legislature and asked to apologise to the people of Maharashtra or else the CM should dismiss him from his post.
Assembly speaker Haribhau Bagde rejected the motion on the ground that Mr Aney had made the said comments at a private function, where he was not present as the state's advocate general. However, Shiv Sena legislators were unhappy with the rejection and entered the well with placards against Mr Aney.
While Shiv Sena legislators were still in the well of the House, Mr Fadnavis who was present in the House got up from his seat and assured the Speaker that a statement would be made after taking “all the information” into account. Subsequently, Sena members returned to their seats.
Interestingly, the chief minister did not give any specific deadline before which the government will make the statement on the issue. Also, other parties including the Congress and NCP who have criticised Mr Aney did not voice any opinion in the house on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, in the council, noisy scenes were witnessed on Tuesday with opposition members demanding that the state government place its stand before the House on the issue.
Congress MLC Sanjay Dutt, after question hour got over, brought the attention of Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar, chairman of the House towards the AG Aney issue and reminded him that he has instructed government to clarify state's stand in the House.
Mr Nimbalkar and Eknath Khadse, leader of the House said that government would inform the House about state's stand at appropriate time. But the opposition demanded it should be clear on Tuesday itself. Later, the chief minister came to the House and agreed to do the same.
“Devendra Fadnavis is saying that the government is seeking information from the AG as the government cannot just go by media reports. We strongly objected to this and demanded that the Chairman direct the government to give its statement by tomorrow,” Congress MLC Sanjay Dutt said.
Mr Dutt said that by repeatedly making the demand for a separate statehood for Vidarbha, the AG has not only undermined the authority of the CM, but has also overstepped his role and created confusion by setting a wrong precedent, that needs to be urgently clarified by the state government.
“Finally, the chief minister agreed and declared that before the adjournment of Council tomorrow evening, the government would place its stand on the subject in the Council,” Mr Dutt said.
Mr Aney, at a function in Nagpur, had said that there should be a referendum on separate Vidarbha and if it is more than 51 per cent, the government should create Vidarbha and claimed that more than 80 per cent of the population in Vidarbha is in favour of a separate statehood.
