Ambadas Danve, a Shiv Sena (UBT) leader, has suggested that there might be external pressure on the assembly speaker, Rahul Narwekar, regarding the impending decision on the disqualification petitions against Shiv Sena MLAs. The Shiv Sena experienced a division in June the previous year when Eknath Shinde, now the chief minister with BJP support, led a rebellion against the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.
The Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena subsequently filed disqualification petitions against Shinde and his supporting MLAs, including some cabinet ministers. Following a hearing involving both factions, Speaker Narwekar scheduled an official hearing on the disqualification petitions against the Shinde group’s MLAs for October 13.
Leader of the Opposition in the legislative council, Danve, expressed concerns during a press conference, stating, “The speaker is wasting time. We feel that there may be pressure on him from the Centre or the BJP. He is taking time in everything. I want to say once again that justice delayed is justice denied.” In addition to discussing political matters, Danve criticized the local political leadership for Nagpur’s flood-like situation resulting from heavy rains. After inspecting the affected areas of the city, he stated, “Nagpur is becoming a concrete jungle, and the basic infrastructure is being neglected. Claims of work done in Nagpur are merely for show, with no real benefits to the people.”
He attributed the environmental and flooding issues to the extensive concretization of roads in the city. Danve requested the district administration to deploy more officials to conduct surveys (panchanamas) to ensure comprehensive coverage of all affected houses in the flood-affected areas.
