Rough weather for Maha Vikas Aghadi government during Monsoon Session

The July 5-6 session would be crucial for the Uddhav Thackeray-led government

The Monsoon Session of the Maharashtra Legislature will be held just for two days, but it is going to be like sailing in rough weather for the Maha Vikas Aghadi government amid mounting pressure from the Opposition BJP.

The July 5-6 session would be crucial for the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress dispensation as former home minister Anil Deshmukh and his son Hrishikesh Deshmukh will be questioned on July 5 by the ED.

Besides, the ED has also attached a sugar mill linked to Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, the nephew of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar.

Read more: ED issues fresh summons for Anil Deshmukh in money laundering case

As the Leader of Opposition, Devendra Fadnavis led the charge during the previous Budget Session. The MVA faced huge problems in the wake of the twin incidents of planting gelatin sticks laden in a Scorpio near the home of Mukesh Ambani and the murder of the SUV owner Mansukh Hiran.

It may be recalled that assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze, who was dismissed in the wake of his arrests in the two cases, had alleged that Deshmukh, Ajit Pawar's contact person Dharshan Godawat and transport minister Anil Parab, a close aide of Thackeray, had asked him to collect money.

Former Mumbai Police chief Param Bir Singh had alleged that Deshmukh fixed a collection target of Rs 100 crore for Vaze when he was heading the Crime Intelligence Unit of Crime Branch-CID of Mumbai Police.

While Deshmukh is facing a probe by CBI and ED, state BJP president Chandrakant Patil has shot off a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah for a probe against Pawar and Parab.

BJP is also looking to corner the government over the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown. Fadnavis had alleged that the government has been fudging Covid-19 case figures and have failed in handling the pandemic.

The quashing of the Maratha quota by the Supreme Court and the OBC reservation issue will also be a topic of friction between the MVA and BJP.

It may be recalled that on a plea by Fadnavis, Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has written to Thackeray to conduct the elections to the vacant post of Speaker of Assembly. The post is vacant since the resignation of Nana Patole, who has taken over as Maharashtra Congress president.