Mumbai, July 9 (IANS) Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday said that the Chairman of the Legislative Council and the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly should decide on the action to be taken against Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad, who assaulted an employee in the canteen of the MLA hostel.

CM Fadnavis said in the Legislative Council that Gaikwad’s behaviour was not dignified and was tarnishing the image of the Legislature.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MLC, Anil Parab had raised the issue in the Legislative Council on Wednesday.

“A senior MLA in the government comes in a vest and towel and beats up an employee. Are there any directions on how legislators should behave? Are these people coming directly from the street? What was the crime of that employee? This is tarnishing the image of your government,” said Parab.

He demanded to know that action would be taken. “Will you take the support of such people and will you run the government with the support of such people?”

Parab told the Chief Minister, “The MLA hostel comes under the purview of the Legislature. If I beat up someone in the Legislature, you will suspend me, so send a message to the people that you will not tolerate this by suspending this Legislator.”

CM Fadnavis said that if the food was not good, then the MLAs can complain about it.

“But beating workers like this and its video coming out, affects our image. This sends the wrong message to the people. It is not right for you (MLA Gaikwad) to behave like this in front of the people as an MLA. The Chairman and the Assembly Speaker should take note of this and decide what action to take on this,” he added.

Earlier, the Shiv Sena MLA from Buldhana District sparked a controversy after a video went viral showing him allegedly beating the canteen staff over poor quality food served at the MLA hostel situated in South Mumbai.

Gaikwad has come under attack on social media for his move to allegedly slap the canteen staff and that, too, when the Monsoon Session of the state Legislature is underway.

According to few eye witnesses from the MLA hostel, Gaikwad on Tuesday night had ordered food and the canteen had served it in his room. However, the Shiv Sena Legislator alleged that the rice and the curry served in the meal were stale and had a bad smell.

He along with his supporters came to the canteen and took the staff to task. In the video, he could be heard saying that no one should pay the bill for the food and later he allegedly beat up the canteen operator even as his supporters tried to pacify him.

He also asked his supporters to take the sample for inspection by the Food and Drug Administration for further action and announced that he would raise the issue of the poor quality food served in the MLA canteen on Wednesday in the state Assembly.

Gaikwad has been hogging the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Three days ago after the joint rally by Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray against the imposition of Hindi from Grade 1 in Maharashtra, he said the two Maratha kings were multilingual.

Gaikwad’s statement was perceived to be disrespectful towards Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaja and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj.

Gaikwad further added that had the two Thackeray brothers united 15 years ago it might have made some difference. “It is too late now. I do not think Maharashtra will see any real change because they have come together.” After strong criticism over the statement Gaikwad tendered an apology.

He had also sparked controversy after he announced a reward of Rs 11 lakh to anyone who will “chop off the tongue” of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his statement on scrapping quota, during his US trip.

–IANS

sj/rad