Cracks appear in Oppn ranks and files in Maharashtra

Cracks have surfaced within the Opposition rank and file ahead of the monsoon session of Maharashtra legislature with the NCP skipping the customary meeting of the Opposition parties following differences with the Congress.

Instead of a joint press conference, Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil of the Congress and his counterpart in the Council Dhananjay Munde of the NCP addressed separate press conferences.

Both, the NCP as well as the Congress, besides other Opposition parties including Samajwadi Party, however, boycotted the customary tea meeting hosted by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on the eve of the commencement of the session.

In the separate press conferences, Vikhe-Patil and Munde raised the same issues — farm loan waiver scheme, land acquisition vis-à-vis Nagpur-Mumbai high-speed high-tech expressway and malnutrition deaths.

Asked of NCP’s absence, Vikhe-Patil said: “All is well within the united Opposition. We are united. The NCP wanted to address some other issues which is why it is addressing a separate press conference…you may ask them.”

State NCP president Sunil Tatkare said that they there was a lack of communication from the Congress side. “There was no communication from the Congress on how to go about the session,” he said.