Nearly six months out of power in Maharashtra, the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi on Saturday staged a massive show of strength in Mumbai giving a call to remove Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and lashed out at the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis dispensation on its stand on multiple issues including the boundary dispute with Karnataka.
The three-km-long 'halla-bol' march from Richardson & Cruddas complex near the Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Vanaspati Udyan And Prani Sangrahalaya in Byculla to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus comes a couple of days ahead of the Nagpur winter session of Maharashtra Legislature.
Speaker after speaker lashed out at Koshyari and three ministers of the Shinde-Fadnavis government - Chandrakant Patil, Abdul Sattar and Mangalprabhat Lodha for their recent comments in public including insults to icons.
NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, his nephew and Leader of Opposition in Assembly Ajit Pawar, his daughter and Baramati MP Supriya Sule, Shiv Sena President Sharad Pawar, his wife Rashmi and their sons Aaditya and Tejas, former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, state Congress President and former Speaker Nana Patole, state NCP President Jayant Patil and Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut were among those present in the rally.
“In Maharashtra, we have seen Governors of the stature of Shankar Dayal Sharma, Dr C Subramaniam and P C Alexander,” Pawar said, coming down heavily on Koshyari. “The Governor’s post is very important but there should be some benchmark as to who should be a Governor,” said Thackeray.