NCP’s Jayant Patil suspended for derogatory remark against Speaker

NAGPUR: In a major development, the state President of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Jayant Patil, was suspended for the remainder of the winter session of Maharashtra Assembly.

The decision was taken by Speaker Rahul Narwekar after Patil allegedly made an 'unparliamentary' remark against the former.

Patil's utterance led to a huge ruckus in the Assembly with the ruling Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena (BSS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members demanding suspension of Patil for one year for the alleged slur aimed at the Speaker's chair.

BJP's Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandrakant Patil later moved a resolution to suspend Patil, which was accepted.

Thereafter, at least three meetings were held with the Speaker, in the presence of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and Opposition members, followed by the decision to suspend Patil for the remaining duration of the Assembly session.

Soon after this, NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) walked out of the House and staged a protest outside the legislature.

Patil, 60, is among the senior most politicians in the state having been elected from Islampur for seven consecutive times. He was the youngest minister in 1999 to present the state Budget at the age of 39, and later for a record 10 times from 1999-2008.