The Monsoon Session of Maharashtra Assembly began in Mumbai on Monday without the Leader of Opposition and is expected to continue till August 4. The post of the Leader of Opposition had fallen vacant after Ajit Pawar changed the political course and joined the Eknath Shinde government.
MVA partners, like Sharad Pawar’s NCP, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena and Congress, are yet to arrive at a consensus as to who will be the next Leader of Opposition.
Congress feels that as it is the single largest party in the MVA, it has right to claim the position of Leader of Opposition but there is a tussle as NCP has already named Jitendra Ahwad, MLA from Thane, to be their face.
NCP (Pawar faction) state president Jayant Patil has said that they do not want to stretch for a long time as Patil has already spoken to Uddhav Thackeray about the subject and that they are working on a formula that the single largest party of MVA will have the post of Leader of Opposition in the assembly. NCP (Sharad Pawar) is still waiting for a u-turn to happen after the split in the party.
Indian National Congress with strength of 44 MLAs says that as they have bigger numbers in MVA, it is their claim for the post of Leader of Opposition.
The decision of the Congress will be taken by high command and the names making rounds are Prithviraj Chauhan, Ashok Chauhan, Balasaheb Thorat and Vijay Vaddetiwar.
It is rare to witness the assembly without a Leader of Opposition, giving government a green signal to have political moves at free will till the Leader of Opposition is named.
Meanwhile, efforts to convince Sharad Pawar to join rebel forces have failed.
