Maharashtra Speaker claims suspended BJP MLAs abused, tried to attack him

After suspending 12 BJP MLAs from the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for a year, Speaker in-chair Bhaskar Jadhav claimed Leader of Opposition (LoP) Devendra Fadnavis along with other BJP leaders abused and tried to attack him in Speaker's chamber on Monday.

Speaking to the media, Jadhav said that after Maharashtra Minister Chhagan Bhujbal answered Devendra Fadnavis's remarks on OBC reservation with 'evidence', BJP became 'uneasy'.

"Devendra Fadnavis insisted he is allowed to speak first on proposal reservation of OBCs. So I allowed him to speak. Later, Chhagan Bhujbal answered Fadnavis with evidence, which is why he and BJP became uneasy," said Jadhav, the Presiding Officer of the Maharashtra Assembly.

"I announced a 10-minute break and went to Speaker's chamber. Fadnavis and other BJP leaders came and abused me. They tried to attack me. I tried to tell them that a CCTV camera was there. That is why 12 BJP members were by-rule suspended from Maharashtra Assembly," he added.

On Monday, the 12 BJP MLAs who were suspended from the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, met Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and requested his intervention in the matter.

Earlier in the day, the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker suspended 12 BJP MLAs for one year, for creating ruckus in the House, during the ongoing Assembly session. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anil Parab presented a resolution to suspend the MLAs and the House passed it on a majority vote.

The suspended MLAs include Dr Sanjay Kute, Ashish Shelar, Abhimanyu Pawar, Girish Mahajan, Atul Bhatkhalkar, Harish Pimple, Jaikumar Rawal, Yogesh Sagar, Narayan Kuche, Bunty Bhangdiya, Parag Alvani and Ram Satpute.

Earlier, Maharashtra Minister Chhagan Bhujbal had said that the Assembly Session was adjourned on Monday after ruckus following the use of abusive language against the Assembly Speaker. The incident has been captured on the CCTV, he said.

The ruckus took place as the Maha Vikas Aghadi government passed a resolution seeking empirical data on OBC's from the central government.

( With inputs from ANI )