Maha: MLC privilege committee Chairman seeks action against Sanjay Raut's "chormandal" remark

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], June 20 : The Chairman of the Privilege Committee, and BJP leader Prasad Lad, of the Maharashtra Legislative Council has written to the secretary of the Council and requested him to take action on the breach of privilege complaint filed against Uddhav Thackeray faction leader Sanjay Raut for his alleged "Chor Mandal" statement against the Legislative Council.

In March, this year, Raut while talking to the reporters in Kolhapur allegedly called the Vidhan Mandal a "Chor Mandal" and the MLAs as thieves and goons.

"This is not a legislature but a band of thieves. What if we are removed from the post are we going to leave the party? Many such posts have been given to us by the party, Balasaheb had given them, and Uddhav ji has given them, we are not hawkers," Raut allegedly said.

Taking note of this, both Maharashtra's Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council initiated actions against Raut.

Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar had ordered an inquiry into Raut's remarks. The privilege committee members (of the Assembly) also served a breach of privilege notice to Raut and also asked him to file a reply to them in the incident.

Following this, Raut in his defence, bypassed the privilege committee and sent his reply in a letter directly to the Speaker.

Raut in his letter said that he has been a Rajya Sabha MP and knows the importance of the Assembly, adding that his statements were directed towards only a specific group (Shinde camp) and not all MLAs.