The suspension came after Rathod picked up the mace from the Speaker's table while protesting against the government.
On Thursday, the speaker of the Assembly Dilip Walse-Patil suspended four more Sena legislators - Ravindra Waikar, Sharad Patil, Abhijit Adsul and Ashish Jaiswal - for a period of one year for unruly scenes in the House and picking up the Indian Constitution from the table of the Speaker and throwing it in the Assembly galley. Five Sena legislators have now been suspended in two days.
The suspended Sena legislators are now prohibited from entering the premises of the state legislatures in Mumbai and Nagpur till the next winter session of the Assembly.
Harshvardhan Patil, the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, who moved the motion to suspend the four legislators on Thursday, said that the behavior of the legislators was unparliamentary.
When the House assembled for the second day, the opposition legislators continued with their protests - shouting slogans and raising banners while demonstrating against the state government's negligence toward farmers whose crops were damaged due to the unseasonal rains recently. They demanded that the government pay at least Rs.50,000 per hectare to the farmers, a demand which the government declined.
Despite the din in the house and the continuance of the demands by the opposition, the government went ahead with the day's proceedings, tabling several bills and passing them.
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Minister for Industries Narayan Rane stated that the government was ready for discussion with the opposition on the issue of compensation for the farmers, but the new Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan was silent on the issue.
Senior BJP leader and leader of the opposition in the Assembly Eknath Khadse said, "We will not allow this corrupt Congress-NCP government to function smoothly in the Assembly and Council and will continue with our protests unless the government accepts our demands."
Chavan felt the heat of the opposition on the first day of the winter session. Amid continuing protests in the House, the Shiv Sena-BJP legislators said that changing of the chief minister will not work, and there's a need for a total impartial and transparent inquiry into the controversial Adarsh housing scam and Lavasa project.
The refusal of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena to boycott the customary tea party called by the chief minister on Tuesday and the defeat of Nikhil Khadse, son of BJP leader in the recent Maharashtra legislative council polls due to the lack of support from its alliance partner Shiv Sena, clearly indicate a divide in the opposition camp.
Meanwhile the call for total closure of Nagpur on Wednesday called by some small parties with the support of Maoists received lukewarm response. Policemen were deployed in and around the Assembly building in Nagpur to maintain law and order.
