Maharashtra: Opposition boycotts CM’s tea party ahead of monsoon session

Citing multiple failures of the Eknath Shinde-led BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP government, the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi on Sunday boycotted the customary tea party-cum-meeting hosted by the Maharashtra Chief Minister on the eve of the monsoon session of the Maharashtra Legislature.

The leaders of Congress, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena group and the Sharad Pawar-Supriya Sule-headed NCP group met in Mumbai and decided not to honour the Chief Minister’s invitation and also pointed out that the government has so far failed to provide a full-fledged ministry which indicates the instability.

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“There is an extraordinary political, social, economic, industrial and administrative chaos in the state,” Leader of the Opposition in Council Ambadas Danve said.

During the three-week-long session, the MVA is also expected to nominate its Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, which is vacant since the resignation of Ajit Pawar of NCP, who has joined the government as the Deputy Chief Minister.

If one goes by numbers and the internal meetings of the three allies, the Congress would stake claim for the post and several names are doing the rounds.

“The Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly would be from the Congress. We will decide the name soon, Congress Legislature Party leader Balasaheb Thorat said.