NAGPUR, India: The winter session of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly began in Nagpur on Tuesday, with the opposition filing a breach of privilege motion against the state chief minister over the leakage of an inquiry report on last year’s Mumbai terror attacks.
In its motion, the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party questioned (SS-BJP) how the report of the two-member Pradhan Committee was leaked to the media before it could be presented to the assembly.
The motion was moved by assembly opposition leader Eknath Khadse of the BJP, Sena group leader Subash Desai, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) group leader Bala Nandganokar and Peasants and Workers (PWP) group leader Ganpatrao Deshmukh.
Khadse alleged that Chavan, who has refused to disclose the contents to the legislature on grounds that it was confidential, was actually reluctant to make the full report public as it would expose red tape and corruption.
Desai said that they had managed to get a copy of the leaked report, but the government had not officially given any to the legislators. He said the decision of the government only to table the Action Taken Report (ATR) showed there was “something fishy.”
Besides Chavan, the breach of privilege motion also included Deputy Chief Minister Chagan Bhujbal, Home Minister RR Patil and Chief Secretary (Home) Chandra Iyengar.
Khadse told journalists on Monday in Nagpur that the report was leaked.
Chavan has questioned the authenticity of the Pradhan report and dared the opposition to prove that it was leaked.
Chavan on Tuesday said that the report had not been made public as it could have “adverse” effect on the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks trial.
