Maha CM express inability to conduct monsoon session for more than two days

Uddhav Thackeray responds to Governor’s letter

@the_news_21

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray while responding to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s June 24 letter, stated that in the backdrop of an increasing number of Delta and Delta plus variants of coronavirus, it is not possible to conduct monsoon session for more than two days.

In his letter to the Governor, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has categorically mentioned that he is explaining the present factual circumstance on the representation submitted by Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in legislative assembly Devendra Fadnavis.

Thackeray said the ensuing session of the Maharashtra Legislature will be held for two days on 5-6 July 2021. He said the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of both the Houses met on June 22, 2021, and in the backdrop of the fear expressed by the state’s COVID-19 task force members from Delta and Delta plus variants of coronavirus, the BAC decided to keep the session for two days. Thackeray further said that only the BAC is authorised to decide on the duration of the session of the state legislature.

The chief minister said that he would like to bring to the notice of the Governor that the second wave of COVID-19 has not receded completely. Besides, the experts have raised fear of the possible third wave of coronavirus. He asserted that the alarm bells being rung of the possible third wave is not only for Maharashtra but for the entire country.

Stating that it is not possible to hold the session of the state legislature for a longer period, Thackeray said that as a reason the election for the post of Speaker of legislative assembly has not been held till now.

He said that no constitutional provision has been violated as the election for the Speaker’s post could not be held till now. “Even the state government wishes to conduct the election to the Speaker’s post at the earliest and is making all efforts in this regard”, he added.

Further, he said that it is not possible to announce the date of the election to the Speaker’s post in advance as the RT-PCR test report is valid for only 72 hours. He said the decision on conducting the election will be held after taking into account the COVID-19 situation in the state and on the confirmation of attendance of all the MLAs when the election is to take place.

On the directions of the Supreme Court to conduct re-election in six Zilla Parishad and 27 Panchayat Samiti of the OBC candidates who have won the polls, the CM stated that the Centre has issued SOPs to the state to take precautions to contain the spread of the virus.

He said, if the re-elections are conducted now then it will lead to the spread of the virus and eventually create more burden on the administration. Thackeray said that the state government has requested the state election commission to postpone the election to the local bodies and bye-elections and is expecting a positive reply from them.

The CM said the government is concerned about the OBCs and hence had called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently in Delhi. He said the issue of a decision given by the Supreme Court on OBC reservation was discussed with the Prime Minister.

He said the delegation has appealed to the PM to find a permanent solution through constitutional means. Thackeray has also requested the Governor to pursue the matter with the Centre to reinstate the OBC reservation.