Maharashtra: Face-Off Between Shinde Faction, Opposition Legislators In Vidhan Bhavan Premises

The NCP MLAs carried carrots on the steps of the legislature building in an bid to taunt the ruling Shiv Sena-BJP coalition.

The Shinde faction MLAs tried to snatch the carrots from the NCP legislators, raising tension between them.

Sena MLA Mahesh Shinde (from the CM's faction) and NCP MLC Amol Mitkari then virtually came to blows at the steps of the legislature building.

Some legislators from the two sides then intervened and diffused the tension. Earlier, legislators of the ruling BJP and those from the Shinde faction staged a protest in the Vidhan Bhavan premises targeting former CM Uddhav Thackeray and his son Aaditya Thackeray.

They carried banners with messages alleging corruption in the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and claimed the Thackerays compromised Hindutva for power.

Some of the banners carried the message: "Raja stayed indoors due to fear of COVID-19 while friends of the yuvraj looted the treasury."

The MLAs also shouted slogans like "standing committee che khoke...Matoshree okay," alleging corruption in the BMC with the support of Thackerays.

'Matoshree' is the residence of Uddhav Thackeray in suburban Bandra. Standing committee is the governing body of the BMC, where the elections are due.

Bharat Gogawale, the MLA from the Shinde camp, told reporters that the opposition legislators need not have come near them when they were staging the protest.

"They started arguing first. When they protested all these days, we did not interfere," he said. Members from both the sides kept shouting slogans against each other for some more time and then went into the House to attend the day's proceedings.

The state legislature's monsoon session will conclude on Thursday. Shinde and 39 other Shiv Sena legislators had revolted against the party leadership in June this year, which led to the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led government comprising the Sena, NCP and Congress.

On June 30, Shinde was sworn in as the chief minister along with BJP's Devendra Fadnavis as his deputy.?