First day, first boycott by Aghadi lawmakers

SP threatens to exit the MVA over Uddhav Sena's Babri glorification

- Sudhir Suryawanshi

The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance in Maharashtra on Saturday refused to take part in the oath-taking ceremony of the newly elected MLAs in protest against the alleged rigging of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the recent assembly elections.

However, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and deputy CMs Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar and others took their oath as MLAs.

There was turbulence in the MVA, as the Samajwadi Party, which has two MLAs in Maharashtra, threatened to walk out of the alliance. SP MLA Abu Azmi said the MVA was taking decisions without consulting them, including the boycott of the oath ceremony.

Another SP MLA, Rais Sheikh, said his party was not comfortable with the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena lauding the demolition of the Babri Masjid. "We will talk with our leaders and take the call on the MVA," he said.