High Drama In Maharashtra Council: Shinde, Thackeray Camp Ministers Clash Over 'Traitor' Remark

Mumbai: The State Legislative Council witnessed high drama on Thursday when two Shiv Sainiks – minister Shambhuraj Desai and Anil Parab, belonging to Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray, respectively, were about to charge at each other but were quickly stopped by other members.

The atmosphere in the council became tense for a few minutes, after Desai took strong exception to Parab's “traitor” jibe targeted at him, which led to the House getting adjourned for a brief period.

It all began during the question hour when the house was discussing whether to reserve 50 houses in new buildings for Marathi people. The question was asked by the Shiv Sena UBT MLC Milind Narvekar.

Parab informed the house that he had moved an unofficial bill to reserve 50% of the houses in redeveloped buildings for Marathi-speaking people. He also asked if the government would bring such a law. To this, Desai retorted that when the MVA was in power, it did not bring any such law. “Your love for Marathi manoos is fake and hollow. What were you doing when the MVA was in power,” asked Desai. This resulted in a verbal altercation between the two with Parab dubbing Desai a 'gaddar' (traitor). A furious Desai strongly objected to Parab's remark, “Who are you calling a gaddar,” asked Desai, challenging Parab to meet him outside the House.

At this point, deputy chairperson of the House Neelam Gorhe quickly adjourned the House for 10 minutes. Later, she announced that the remarks made by Desai and Parab would not be part of the House's record.