Mumbai, Dec 22 The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly witnessed uproarious scenes after the Opposition BJP accused ruling Shiv Sena legislator Bhaskar Jadhav of 'imitating' Prime Minister Narendra Modi, here on Wednesday.
After over an hour of angry exchanges and two adjournments, the BJP, led by Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis, secured an apology from Jadhav for 'insulting' the Prime Minister.
The BJP said that Jadhav allegedly made certain remarks and mocked the Prime Minister during a debate on power issues in the lower House in which Energy Minister (Congress) Nitin Raut was also participating.
At one point in the debate, Jadhav reportedly 'imitated' the Prime Minister over the 'unkept' promises of the BJP made before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Taking umbrage, Fadnavis said that such comments or gestures on the PM would not be tolerated and demanded an apology from Jadhav.
Other BJP legislators also joined in and urged Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal to ask Jadhav to tender an apology or take action against him.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anil Parab intervened to say that any such objectionable remarks could be withdrawn, which Fadnavis countered by asking how can 'gestures or body language' be removed, and warned of bringing a breach of privilege.
While Zirwal said that he would examine if Jadhav had made any unparliamentary comments before taking a decision, NCP's Water Resources Minister Jayant Patil and Parab said that all political parties' leaders should be respected in the House.
After the House reassembled, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said that all political leaders must be accorded respect as per Maharashtra's tradition, which must be maintained.
Later, Jadhav tendered an apology, saying that it was his style of talking when he inadvertently makes hand gestures or body movements, though he made it clear that he did not utter a single objectionable word.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor