PUNE, 3 April 2008 — Around 150 workers of the Rashtriya Sevak Sangh (RSS) attacked the office of the Communist Party of India – Marxist (CPM) in Narayan Peth yesterday causing injuries to three CPM workers. Most of the residents of the area are RSS and BJP sympathizers.

According to a senior police official, the incident was a follow-up to the recent fighting between CPM and RSS workers in Kerala where seven people had died.

The situation calmed after the State Reserve Police Force and the Federal Rapid Action Force were deployed in the area.

The CPM party leaders from Pune, who are currently in Coimbatore attending the party congress, condemned the incident saying they would take up the issue with the Maharashtra chief minister.

Six Legislators Suspended

Six opposition party lawmakers have been suspended for a year for disrupting the proceedings of the House by hurling books and safety pins at a panel speaker during legislative proceedings on Tuesday night.

Congress legislator Chandrakant Chajjed, who was in the chair, told Arab News later, "In a democracy such incidents are unwarranted and have to be dealt with firmly."

The legislators suspended are Raj Purohit (BJP-Mumbai), Arjun Khotkar (Shiv Sena-Jalna), Wamnrao Chatap (Swatantra Bharat Party-Rajura), Sanjay Kute (BJP-Kalamb), Sanjay Chavan (Independent-Nashik), and Bachchu Kadu (Indepndent-Achalpur).

The legislators got angry after they were not allowed to speak when supplementary demands for education department were being discussed. They went berserk, tore papers and hurled books. In the melee, Chajjed was hit on the nose. Principal Secretary Anant Kalse too was hurt.

In the middle of the debate, leader of the Opposition Ramdas Kadam sought to raise the issue of the alleged murder of Pawanraje Nimbalkar, a close relative of NCP member Padmasinha Patil. Not satisfied with the chair's ruling, the Sena-BJP members staged a walkout.

During the rumpus, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harshavardhan Patil moved a resolution seeking suspension of the erring legislators for a year.

"The act of some of the members was indecent and unparliamentarily. The motion stated that the act of throwing books, safety pin boxes at the panel speaker and the legislature secretary was unprecedented," Patil said.