Mumbai: With not enough numbers to secure the Leader of the Opposition’s (LoP) post for any one party, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners – Congress, NCP (SP), and Shiv Sena (UBT) – may share the LoP’s post for 1.5 years each. According to a Congress functionary, NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar proposed that the LoP’s post be shared by MVA parties so that all three parties can get a chance to nominate an LoP. The functionary said that Pawar made the suggestion to state Congress chief Nana Patole at a meeting recently.
The Congress has 16 MLAs, Sena (UBT) has 20, and NCP (SP) has 10. None of the three parties has enough MLAs, 28 MLAs or 10% of the strength of the assembly, to get the LoP’s post on their own. As per the provisions of the Salaries and Allowances of Leaders of Opposition in the State Legislature Act, an LoP can be nominated if the party has 10% of the elected members, officials said. So far, the Sena (UBT) is yet to agree to this formula, and a detailed discussion on this is likely to take place soon.
Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar has maintained that he will check the rules of the Maharashtra legislative assembly in this regard, previous conventions and traditions, and then take an appropriate decision on the Leader of Opposition (LoP). Narwekar said each legislature takes its decision on the LoP.
With no party in the MVA getting enough MLAs to elect a formal LoP, newly elected Sena (UBT) legislature party leader Bhaskar Jadhav last month wrote to the state legislature’s Principal Secretary Jitendra Bhole seeking clarification on the exact rules. Senior officials have said that for the first time in six decades, there may be no LoP in the Maharashtra legislative assembly owing to an inadequate number of opposition members.
However, officials said under the rules, the LoP post also cannot be secured based on the combined strength of the three parties even if they had a pre-poll alliance. It was way back in 1962 and 1967 that there were no LoPs since then Congress used to win the elections by unprecedented margins. “With massive wins for Congress, there was no scope for the appointment of a LoP,” officials said.
“So, in the 288-member Maharashtra legislative assembly, only if the opposition party has 28 elected members can it nominate the leader of opposition. According to the results, since the largest opposition party – Sena (UBT) – has only 20 members, it cannot stake a claim for the post. Congress, with 16 members, and Sharad Pawar-led NCP, with 10 members, are not even in the zone of consideration,” the official said.