Mumbai Dec 28 PTI Amid the ongoing tussle between the Maharashtra government and the Raj Bhavan over the issue of state Assembly Speakers election Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Tuesday said the governor is not appointed to reject the rights of the legislature and governments recommendations In sarcastic remarks Raut also said the Maharashtra governor seemed too studious and this could cause him indigestion If the governor is acting contradictory to his constitutional duties then the state will have to take some political steps as well the Shiv Senas chief spokesperson said The remarks came a day after the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA government in Maharashtra conveyed to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari that a delay in approving the schedule for election of the Legislative Assembly Speaker will be taken as his consent A delegation of MVA ministers had met the governor on Sunday with a letter of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray seeking approval to hold the Speakers election in the ongoing legislature session A senior minister later told PTI that the governor in a letter to the CM on Monday morning said the amendment in existing legislative rules to pave the way for holding the Speakers election through a voice vote in the Assembly and not ballot was unconstitutional Talking to reporters on Tuesday Raut said It seems that the Maharashra governor is too studious it could cause him indigestion His appointment is not for rejecting the rights of the legislative House governments recommendations and peoples will The Rajya Sabha member further said he will not speak on the governors response to the letter sent by CM over the election of new Speaker I have already said the governor should not study so much If someone faces indigestion it could lead to abdominal pains The state health department can treat such ailments he said sarcastically Asked if CM Thackeray who underwent a cervical spine surgery sometime back would attend the session Raut said Wait and watch Tuesday is the last day of the state legislatures winter session PTI ND GK GK

Mumbai Dec 26 PTI A delegation of the Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA government in Maharashtra met Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Sunday and handed over a letter seeking his approval for holding an election for the post of Legislative Assembly Speaker during the ongoing winter session of the state legislature State Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde of Shiv Sena Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat of Congress and Food and civil Supplies Minister Chhagan Bhujbal of NCP met the governor at the Raj Bhavan this evening The election for the post of the legislative assembly speaker is likely to be held during the ongoing winter session which ends on December 28 The session had begun on December 22 Talking to reporters after the meeting Thorat who is also the Congress legislature party leader said they handed over to the governor a letter written by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray seeking his approval for the election schedule for the speakers post The governor sought details of the amendments to the legislative rules about holding the election through voice vote instead of ballot He said he will discuss and seek more information from legal experts and convey his decision by tomorrow Thorat said Shinde said the change in procedure of holding the speakers election has been done as per the rules and they were confident that the governor would his approval soon The assembly speakers post has been lying vacant since February this year after Nana Patole who occupied that post resigned to take charge as state Congress chief Congress MLA Sangram Thopte is said to be frontrunner for the post Thorat and Shinde said the governor neither discussed the issue of suspension of 12 BJP MLAs from the Assembly nor talked about the long-pending nomination of 12 members to the Legislative Council from the governors quota PTI MR BNM NP NP

Panaji Dec 20 PTI In yet another jolt the Congress ahead of the Goa Assembly polls the partys state working president Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco resigned as Member of the Legislative Assembly on Monday reducing the partys strength to two in the 40-member House Two other Congress leaders had also recently resigned as MLAs in the state where elections are due early next year Notably the Congress last week declared its first list of eight candidates for the forthcoming state polls and Lourencos name figured in it Lourenco who represented the Curtorim Assembly segment in south Goa district submitted his resignation to the Assembly Speakers office on Monday afternoon He later also resigned from the Congress sources said Lourenco who was the working president of the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee was not available for comments He may join the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress Party TMC soon the sources said Earlier this month former Goa chief minister Ravi Naik resigned as Congress MLA A few months back ex-CM Luizinho Faleiro had also quit the Congress and joined the TMC which has decided to contest the Goa Assembly polls In the 2017 Goa Assembly elections the Congress had won 17 seats in the House and emerged as the single largest party But the BJP which had bagged 13 seats quickly tied-up with some regional parties and independents to form government in the state PTI RPS GK GK