Monsoon Session of Maharashtra legislature extended by two days; to conclude on August 25

The monsoon session of the Maharashtra legislature has been extended by two days, which will now conclude on August 25. The decision to extend the session was taken during the meeting of the state legislature's business advisory committee (BAC) held on Thursday.

During the meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and attended by group leaders of all parties, it was decided that the monsoon session would be held between August 17 and 25. As per the earlier schedule, the session was to end on August 23.

The Houses will not function on August 19 as it is a holiday (on account of Dahi Handi festival). Moreover, there will be no session on weekends. So, considering all this, the committee members demanded that the duration of the session needs to be extended so that decisions that require approval of the Houses can be taken, a BJP leader said.

Meanwhile, ministers from the Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena - Dada Bhuse and Uday Samant - were included as the party representatives in the BAC on Thursday. Leader from the Uddhav Thackeray camp and the party's chief whip Ajay Chaudhary had written a letter to Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar to invite representatives from Thackeray's side in the committee, but it was rejected.

Narvekar approved the names of Bhuse and Samant.