Uddhav Thackeray to meet miffed legislators

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will hold a meeting of party legislators at his residence Matoshree on Monday in light of the complaints received against minister of state (MoS) Vijay Shivtare and transport minister Diwakar Raote. Mr Thackeray will meet the group of legislators, including the party whips and MLAs, while guardian ministers will not be allowed.

The party chief had held a meeting of aggrieved legislators at party office ‘Shivalaya’ in Nariman Point on Thursday. More than 12 legislators were present at the meeting. According to a party insider, MLAs from Western Maharashtra are disappointed with the behaviour of Mr Shivtare, minister of state for water resources.

“Mr Shivtare behaves with us like he behaves with BJP party workers,” said a legislator from Western Maharashtra, on condition of anonymity.

Another MLA from one of the backward districts of Marathwada region said, “We asked him to make a provision for the development fund. However, the guardian minister, who belongs to BJP, ignored us and rejected our demand.”

“Earlier, the MLA fund could be used for construction of Zilla Parishad schools and road works. Now, our right has been taken away and zilla parishads are allowed to carry out the work. In such a situation, how can we show our development work to the voters ” the angry legislators told The Asian Age.

The legislators then complained that they did not feel they had power even while dealing with some of their “own” ministers. “Our own guardian minister treats me worse than the one during the Congress-NCP regime,” the MLA said.

According to a senior party leader, initially the party legislators complained that they were facing resistance from the BJP ministers. To this, they were told to find the way out as this behaviour was obvious because they had won by contesting against the BJP. However, the complaints now are serious as they are against our own ministers, a Sena leader said and added that the ministers might be under pressure from the BJP.

On Monday, Mr Thackeray will meet legislators in a group, along with the party whips. The meeting is expected to provide a platform for direct dialogue between the party leadership and the MLAs. Hence, guardian ministers will not be allowed, sources revealed.

Sunil Prabhu, the party whip from the Legislative Assembly, and Dr Neelam Gorhe, the party whip from Legislative Council, have been asked to compile reports on the issues that the MLAs have been following up with the ministers, which have been constantly ignored.