‘Pained by threatening tone of letter’
MUMBAI: The tussle between the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government and Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari continued as he told chief minister Uddhav Thackeray in a letter that was circulated on social media on Wednesday that he was “pained” by the “threatening tenor” of the CM’S letter pertaining to the election to the Speaker’s post.
Thackeray had written a letter to the Governor on Monday informing him of the cabinet’s decision to conduct the assembly speaker’s election on December 28 by open vote instead of a secret ballot. This was the third letter addressed to Raj Bhavan on the matter; a letter recommending election to the Constitutional post was sent to the Governor on December 24, and a delegation of senior MVA leaders approached Koshyari with another letter from the CM, requesting his assent to hold the election, on December 26. However, the Governor did not give his approval to hold the election and objected to an amendment in the rules for the election, made on December 23, which provided for open voting instead of a secret ballot. Terming the amendment “unconstitutional” and “illegal”, Koshyari’s letter which circulated on Wednesday with its date cropped, said that he cannot be pressured to consent to the process as it needed to be legally examined. The position fell vacant after senior Congress leader Nana Patole resigned to take up a party post (state party president) on February 4. Since then, deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal is holding charge of acting Speaker in the lower House.
“You mentioned that the said rules have been framed under Article 208 of the Constitution. It would be pertinent to mention that the same Article clearly elucidates that ‘A House of the Legislature of a State may make rules for regulating, subject to the provisions of the Constitution, its procedure and the conduct of its business…’ I am personally pained and dismayed to see the intemperate tone and threatening tenor of your letter which has belittled and denigrated the highest Constitutional Office of the Governor,” Koshyari’s letter stated.