Mumbai, March 1: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday said his party will stake claim to the post of Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra legislative assembly.
He argued that in the past, this post was given to opposition parties even as they had not won 10 per cent of the seats at that time.
The combined strength of the opposition parties in the 288-member state assembly is nearly 50, he said.
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The budget session of the Maharashtra legislature will be held between March 3 and 26.
“Shiv Sena (UBT) will stake claim to the post of LoP in the Vidhan Sabha. Even if the strength of MLAs is less, there is no law or provision in the Constitution which says that the House should function without the LoP. Shiv Sena (UBT) has the strength of 20,” Raut claimed.
In the past, the Congress leaders said that if the Sena (UBT) stakes claim to the post of LoP in the assembly, then it will demand the same post in the legislative council. Currently, Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Ambadas Danve is the LoP in the legislative council but his tenure as an MLC will end in August this year.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance comprises the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena (UBT), Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) and Congress. The Sena (UBT) has 20 MLAs in the assembly, followed by the Congress (16) and NCP (SP) (10).
“Hope the Speaker accepts our demand of getting the LoP’s post,” Raut said.
When asked why none of the top leaders of the Sena (UBT) went to the Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj, Raut said the party follows RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in this.
“I did not see Mohan Bhagwat going to the Maha Kumbh and taking a dip in the Ganga. We were waiting for him (Bhagwat) to go to the Maha Kumbh and we would have followed them. None of the senior RSS functionaries went to the Maha Kumbh. We had plans of doing so, but we did not see any of them going there,” the Rajya Sabha member said.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who heads the ruling Shiv Sena, has attacked Uddhav Thackeray for skipping the Maha Kumbh. (PTI)
