Government inexperience shows in Assembly

Nagpur: The relative inexperience of members and ministers of the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena was on display on Thursday, when the more experienced opposition took them to task for poor floor coordination and inadequate home work.
The state Assembly witnessed lengthy procedural wrangling, leading to embarrassing moments for the government. First, two of the three calling attention motions listed on the day’s agenda were put on hold by the chair.
Later, when senior members from opposition Jayant Patil, Shashikant Shinde and Bhaskar Jadhav sought to know the reason, panel speaker Yogesh Sagar said the calling attention motion number 3 was deferred on the request of leader of opposition himself.
Regarding calling attention motion no. 1, he said the concerned minister had sought more time to get adequate information regarding malnutrition deaths from the three ministries — women and child welfare, social justice, and tribal development. This failed to cut ice with the opposition, who asked why the item was listed on the day’s agenda.
“Calling attention is a device used to draw attention of the government on vital issues of a constituency. If the government treats it lightly and puts it off, the member may not get another chance to raise the matter,” said Patil. “Earlier, at least five items were listed daily, but now such motions have been cut to three. If two of them are left out, it is injustice to the members,” said Jadhav
Bowing to pressure, Sagar then cautioned the government and directed them to be ready with answers.
In another embarrassing episode, no member of treasury bench or minister was ready when the chair called for tabling of the reintroduced Bill on Amendments to the Maharashtra Mahanagar Palika (amendment) Bill. The Bill concerning the changes of multi-representation prabhags in Nagar Palikas and separately for municipal corporations was brought back in the house after it was cleared by the upper house earlier this week. The opposition pointed out that the government had failed to get the law passed and was relying on an ordinance.
Jayant Patil, Jadhav and Shinde took the government to task for not providing them explanations about changes in the Bill being reintroduced. The Speaker tried in vain to explain that the changes were only technical in nature, and not in concept or scope of the Bill, which was passed after a lengthy debate in the lower house.