Pune: In a recent District Planning Committee meeting, veteran leader Sharad Pawar respected protocol by standing for the Guardian Minister but refrained from asking questions when informed he couldn't.

MP Supriya Sule highlighted this incident, criticizing the restrictive protocol and asserting the right of MPs and MLAs to speak.

Sule, speaking in Karad during a women's gathering celebrating MLA Balasaheb Patil's birthday, expressed her concerns about the Guardian Minister's conduct and the subsequent clarification from the administration that MPs and MLAs do have the right to speak at such meetings.

She vowed to fight against such oppression and write to the Chief Minister for clarity on the rules governing MLAs and MPs.

MP Supriya Sule was in Karad (Satara district) on July 21 for a women's gathering organized to celebrate MLA Balasaheb Patil's birthday. During this event, she spoke to the media.

MP Sule said that MP Sharad Pawar demanded a taluka-wise review of development works at the planning committee meeting. The District Collector said that the information would be provided later, thus ending the matter.

However, the Pune Guardian Minister showed us an ordinance stating that MLAs and MPs are invited but do not have the right to ask questions. He also mentioned that while we are given seats in the front, those behind should come forward.

If such a protocol exists, why wasn't it followed for many years? We would have sat in the back without any issues. According to the ordinance, every invitee has the right to speak as per the Constitution, even though we cannot vote in the meeting. We were not asking to vote but to ask questions.

Senior leader Pawar asked how the development funds were allocated. In response, the Guardian Minister gave a long lecture. Later, I read the ordinance and asked the administration why we were invited if we did not have the right to speak, Sule said.