Opposition and Sena fear Nagpur to become defacto capital of the state

Oppn leader VikhePatil said that he feared the govt is conspiring to pass a resolution to carve out separate Vidarbha statehood

Maharashtra government is planning to hold its monsoon session in Nagpur in July instead of December. The opposition party leader Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil and Shiv Sena fear that the BJP-led government wants to make Nagpur the defacto capital of the state, instead of Mumbai.

Vikhe Patil further stated that the entire government will be forced to move to Nagpur, leaving the city stranded. “In case of heavy downpour, the city faces floods, it will be disastrous for the public since the entire bureaucracy and politicians will be away in Nagpur,” said Vikhe Patil.

Vikhe-Patil told Free Press Journal that he feared the government is conspiring to pass a resolution to carve out separate Vidarbha statehood from Maharashtra on the last day at Nagpur session in July.

“BJP may pass this resolution without opposition from other parties including Shiv Sena at the Nagpur session,” claimed Vikhe-Patil and added BJP will not have the courage to pass such a resolution in Mumbai.

A separate Vidarbha was the poll promise given by Fadnavis during 2014 campaigning.

Shiv Sena too has decided to oppose the idea to shift the monsoon session to Nagpur. The state government has appointed a committee of three ministers to take the final call on this issue.

Sudhir Mungantiwar, minister of finance and planning said, the Union government has set to change financial year from January 2019. Currently the the financial year begins on April 1 and ends on March 31.

“Once, the new financial year will come in force, we have to table and pass annual budget in December to ensure budgetary provision could be allocated before the beginning of new financial year,” said Mungantiwar. Hence, he added, the December session which is known as winter session will be renamed as budget session. He did not clarified whether it will be held in Nagpur or Mumbai.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis pushes his idea to hold monsoon session from July 4 in Nagpur instead of Mumbai. Since formation of separate Maharashtra state, there were only two instances of hodling the monsoon session in Nagpur.

“There is possibility of midterm polls of holding both state assembly and Parliament elections together this December. Hence, Fadnavis wants to clear pending promises related to Vidarbha. He may announce a special financial package for his home region before the mid-term polls are announced. He will not do this in Mumbai,” one Sena minister told FPJ.

Eknath Shinde, another Sena minister, opposed the proposal. “We cannot forget the havoc of July 26, 2005 when the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) was flooded. Government officials and ministers must be available in Mumbai during the monsoon session. We cannot rush from Nagpur if something drastic happens in Mumbai and Thane,” said Shinde. Maharashtra government signed a tripartite agreement with Reliance Foundation and Rajmata Jijau MotherChild Health Nutrition Mission in order to tackle malnutrition among children in the state.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), earlier signed in 2015, was renewed on Thursday at Sahyadri guest house, in the presence of Pankaja Munde, Minister of Rural Development, Jagannatha Kumar, Chief Executive