Mumbai, March 11 (IANS) Separate agitations by a divided opposition against the ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party marked the opening day of the budget session of the Maharashtra legislature here Monday.
Shortly before the start of the legislature session Monday morning, the main opposition parties Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena legislators clanged empty water pots and carried bundles of hay to highlight the water scarcity and drought in the state.
Women legislators carried steel pots and raised slogans demanding water while their male colleagues flaunted large bundles of hay, demanding fodder for starving cattle in the drought-hit areas.
Another major opposition party, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), sidetracked the drought and raised the issue of Marathi-speaking people.
Raising slogans, MNS legislators tried to stop the vehicle of Maharashtra Governor K. Sankaranarayanan, demanding restoration of regional languages like Marathi in the central competitive examinations.
They also raised the issue of toll collections and bad roads across the state against which the MNS has been campaigning since the past six months.
Later, the governor addressed the joint sitting of the legislature and highlighted various achievements of the government and the challenges confronting it.
Sankaranarayanan's chief concern was the failure of the monsoon for the second consecutive year in many parts of the state, which has created water scarcity in 11,801 villages.
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