In yet another development in the war between Shiv Sena and BJP, Shiv Sena ministers on Friday demanded that the leader of opposition from both houses of state legislature and journalists be allowed to witness the meetings of the state cabinet.
Senior Shiv Sena ministers Eknath Shinde and Deepak Sawant are said to have raised this demand in the state cabinet meeting.
They expressed a view that allowing leader of opposition and journalists to witness cabinet meetings will help achieve much needed transparency in the governance.
It may be recalled here that BJP had made 'transparence in governance' a key issue during the municipal elections to target Shiv Sena which has been ruling Mumbai and Thane municipal corporations for over two decades now.
Shiv Sena ministers pointed out that in the standing committee meetings of the municipal corporations even journalists are allowed to witness the proceedings. Shiv Sena ministers are learnt to have told Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis that they even wanted the 'Lokayukta' to witness state cabinet meeting.
While Eknath Shinde was not available to comment on the issue, an aide of Shinde confirmed that this demand was raised by the minister in the meeting. He informed that the issue was taken up as Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had spoken about this to Sena ministers and senior party leaders.
